Elsa's Phantom
by OrangeGalen
Summary: (Pre-Frozen)Elsa had figured it would be a matter of time. First she started talking out loud, then she started talking to her reflection in the mirror. So it was reasonable that she would create an imaginary person to talk to. Now she only needs to decide if the person she sees is as imaginary as she first thought, or actually real...
1. New Years Eve

***Sigh.* When I first joined this site, I had planed to never write a Frozen fan fiction. Then I started reading them. Then my brain started coming up with new ideas to write about. Then I started writing them. This is the product of _one_ of those ideas. So here I am writing a Frozen fan fiction, one of several now. **

**Anyway, I think that's enough self depreciation on my part. I am really liking this story though already, even though it's all in my head...**

**This chapter is the first of many, but it's sort of like a prologue, but not really. It just has that feel. **

**Just a fair warning, this story will be slow to update. It's just how I am. Sorry. **

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen.**

**Edited on 12/18/15**

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_Painful, the heart will be_

_When it learns,_

_That it can never yearn,_

_For the touch of another soul,_

_Even if it could be remade whole._

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_Shattered, the mind will be,_

_When it understands,_

_Nothing can touch your hands,_

_And that in saving another's life,_

_It will bring nothing but strife._

"The Cost of Safety" Part 1-  
by Galen Cook (aka OrangeGalen)

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Four years.

Four long years.

Four years since the ballroom accident.

Four years since she last saw her sister.

Four years since she last had kind, loving physical contact with another person other than her father and mother.

Elsa leaned against the windowsill, looking out through the glass, her gentle breathing fogging up what little view she had left. Frost was slowly creeping along the bottom edges of the window in frozen fractal patterns, creating a quiet crinkling sound every few minutes with the change, and for once it wasn't her fault from losing control. The frost was completely natural, caused by Mother Nature's seasons.

_I know that the world rotates and moves around the sun, and that's what causes the day to become night, and for the seasons to change, and for the years to pass, _Elsa thought_. And I watch them all from this window as they pass by, unable to do anything about it. I wish everyday that I could change like the seasons; then maybe I won't have to worry about hurting anybody with my... my curse._

It was the dead middle of winter in Arendelle; New Years Eve to be exact, and snow was falling outside piling up in decent sized drifts, faster than they could be cleared away. Not that anybody minded right then as they were all inside. A white blanket covered the town, making the streets and rooftops glitter like diamonds in the moonlight. For the citizens of Arendelle, every footstep taken outside caused the ground to crunch like a fresh stack of crackers from the new powder of snow and ice.

As Elsa's gaze shifted through the window, she could see little black dots which were people moving around further in the city across the bridge that led to the castle. Other non-royal, _normal_ people were out enjoying the snow, enjoying the wintertime, enjoying each other's company without worrying about anything. Being with other people, staying in contact. Couples walked hand in hand underneath the lanterns that lined the roads, looking into the shops for gifts to give each other or just enjoying the sights. Children were frolicking around throwing snowballs at each other or building snowmen in the short time they had left before their parents called them in to bed.

She remembered a time like that, when she and Anna had fun in the snow.

A time when she was allowed to laugh and play and hug people without hurting them.

When her father's voice used to be stern but friendly and caring at the same time.

But that was before _that_ night…

Elsa blinked away sudden tears and laid her head against the cold window, not noticing the now rapidly freezing glass, and sighed deeply in misery. The coldness of the void in her heart more than made up for the difference in temperature, not that she cared anyway.

Four years.

Four years since she nearly killed her sister.

Four years since she went into a forced self-isolation.

Four years since she had a friend to talk to, to play with, to build a snowman with.

It had been a hard four years for Elsa. The only people she's seen were her select few tutors for her education that were sworn to secrecy about what happens inside the royal castle and her parents. They all taught her how to behave, think, and act like a queen, since she was next in line for the Arendelle throne. A few all too brief hours were all that she had outside her room; a few hours a day with her tutors to learn everything before she deliberately shut herself back into her room to protect the world from herself. She actually considered that time to be lucky, that she was able to conceal her curse for that long without freezing a table, without causing a snowstorm inside a room.

Without hurting anybody else.

As a distraction, she dove into her studies as a blessed relief as a way to help keep her mind off the curse. She shined in all her subjects: mathematics, science, languages, everything, and her tutors phrased her for her progress, claiming that she would outsmart them at one point if she continued at her current pace. She was only getting better, since that was all that was allowed for her.

Her parents publicly insisted to the limited staff that she would make an excellent queen someday. She excelled in etiquette and manners, grasped the concepts of relations with other nations easily, and for all appearances was a shrewd diplomat if need be. She memorized important documents, and knew most of Arendelle's history by heart.

But she knew it was all an act, and she knew her parents knew that as well, especially her father. The façade she put on for her tutors evaporated the moment she was alone back in her room with nothing to do. Once alone all her fears of losing what seemed to be a diminishing amount of control came back to her stronger than ever. As she got older, she could feel the magic, the curse, getting stronger, more powerful. When she was alone, which was the majority of each and every day, it took all of her willpower and a tight reign on her emotions to prevent the frost from growing beneath her feet as she endlessly paced. Some days were better than others and she could almost enjoy being with her parents, her tutors.

But her fear gnawed on, ever hungry in the back of her mind. She was afraid. Alone, she often huddled in a corner of her room or in her bed as she tried to fight it. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the growing feeling of cold growing in he room, pretending it wasn't there, wishing that it would go away. But when she could _feel_ the frost spreading across the floor, the room becoming colder, icicles forming on her bedposts, she curled upon herself even more and repeated her personal mantra.

Even when she gave the appearance of utmost attention to her tutors, there was a part of her that overrode everything else, chanting to herself in a repeating rhythm, an endless drum beat, of commands, of orders that were said by both her father and herself: _Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel._

Sometimes she thought she almost had it. Thought that she had found a way to control it. Sometimes she would go hours without worrying about her curse and actually let herself _feel_ something.

Then her father would knock on the door and come in…

Then the ice would spread and grow and grow for as long as he was in there.

Then he would leave and Elsa would either go back to her corner or tare into her studies, depending on whether how strong she felt after he left.

She loved her father… but there was something else underlying that love that made her hesitate and grow weary.

On these days, she sometimes caught herself talking to her reflection in the mirror. Starved of real human interaction not based around studies and etiquette, of a human voice to actually have a conversation with in all the hours and days spent inside her isolation, other than the droning voices of her tutor's lessons or her father's 'reprimands', she started talking to herself. Then she would realize it was only her reflection and stop.

She started when she was ten. Two years after _that _night she started saying little comments, such as, "where did I put that," or "there must be something else to do," usually only to herself. Comments that we all make from time to time. But as more and more years went by, she started saying full sentences out loud, just to hear a voice. Then she would hold conversations in her mind, sometimes only doing half the conversation and then pause, waiting for a voice, a response that would never come before continuing on.

Then, one day, she was passing by her full-length mirror and saw her reflection. It was the first time in a while that she actually _looked_ at herself. She was a young teenager and her body was showing the changes with her growing bust and widening hips. She was actually quite shocked to see that she looked like a normal human being, something that could pass as an ordinary person. Then she saw her eyes in the reflection and just for a moment, pretended that her reflection was somebody different and started talking, an endless stream of thoughts that came to mind, and she just said them out loud and only stopped when she heard footsteps from a servant bringing her evening meal outside her door.

Fear once again drove her to hide what she had discovered.

As days went by, she started having full conversations with her reflection, answering her own questions and replying back like she was talking to another person, one that would not look at her like an abomination, like a monster, or at least even royalty.

She would talk, all the while wishing that her reflection would talk back, that it would answer with something she didn't know. All the while wishing that it were Anna she was talking to, and not her own reflection.

Anna had her pictures in the gallery; Elsa had her mirror in her room.

Four years.

Four years since she first heard her new life motto.

Four years of closed gates and closed doors.

Four years of ignoring the voices on the other side of her frost covered door and in her own head.

Elsa looked up again and saw a group of people in the town center dancing to an inaudible melody, happy and carefree. A large group had gathered and as Elsa watched, she could almost imagine the sounds of the music, the cheering of the people, and the applause after the musicians were finished. Currently she could see only a single person wrapped in a cloak playing the fiddle in the center, or was it the violin? Elsa didn't know the difference, as it wasn't part of her studies to learn music. When she was younger she used to play the piano with her mother, but after she accidentally froze the last piano she was barred from learning any more and the pianos were thrown out of the castle. Anything that she learned had been forgotten in the following years, crushed by the weight of her other, more _useful_ studies.

After a few minutes of watching, the soloist bowed finishing their song and crowd broke up cheering and retiring for the night. The soloist stayed collecting the money that had been offered and packing up. For a moment Elsa swore he (or she) looked up at the castle, specifically her window before leaving. She shook her head, "I must have been imagining it."

_It's been so long since we had a concert in the castle,_ Elsa thought, _it would be nice to hear music from an orchestra again, or a soloist, or even singing. It would be nice to be around people without worrying that I might hurt them. But that can't happen. That can never happen. I always need to be alone. _

Elsa sighed again and withdrew herself from the window ledge. She was twelve now, and needed to stop focusing on childish daydreams… or so her father said. He yelled at her once when he found her with a "pointless fantasy book" when she should have been studying. It was only Iduna's intervention that she was allowed to keep any of those books in her room. All the ones that had 'good' characters with magic in them were removed however; Agnarr made sure of that. It took the rest of the day for the ice to melt after they left.

She wandered over to the other side of her room and picked up a book without looking at the title from the bookcase. _It's probably either a mathematical or historical book or some story or another with heroes who always win, villains who are constantly beaten, and the princesses always getting saved. I've read them all, several times. I've had time to._

_All too much time alone in my room fighting my curse. Myself. _

She sat down on her bed and gently opened the book at the beginning. _Of course it would be this one, _she thought, _the one where the prince fights a dragon to save a princess from a curse laid upon her._ Elsa gave a sullen chuckle at the irony. _The only differences are that there is no prince, no dragon, and my curse wasn't cast by some witch. And there is no hope of me getting saved from it. _

She closed the book, slamming it shut, and fell against her bed with an un-princess like groan. _Why? Why did it have to be me? The daughter of a King? The one who will inherit the throne in time? Anybody else could probably control this curse, but not me. I can't control it, I can't contain it, and the only reason it's concealed is because _I_ am. It keeps getting stronger. I can't be around anyone. I could hurt them like I did to Anna _that_ night. I could kill them. I'll be labeled as a… a monster like father keeps telling me I will be. Because that is what I am really: a monster. I need to be alone for other people's sakes. _

The window was now completely frosted over, and it came from the inside as well. And the growing frost wasn't confined to the window. The floor started to become white and glittery, and the ice started traveling up the walls. Elsa sat up and noticed that the book she was gripping had almost been completely covered in ice crystals. She gasped and dropped the book on the floor and it landed with a loud _crunch_ing sound. Elsa brought up her knees and curled up on her bed, rocking back and forth in despair. _Even with the gloves it's not enough. It's getting stronger. I can't control it. _She looked at the ice on the walls, pleading, _Please, please; just go away, _she thought, panic starting to overcome her.

She remembered a few hours ago how her father came in to 'check up' on her, and to make a few things clear…

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_(Flashback)_

_Elsa was almost in the same position at the window, looking out over Arendelle. The sun hadn't set yet so Elsa could see the entire city glowing with an orange light. The sky was a brilliant array of yellow, pink, and orange, lighting up the world and the snow still leftover from last night's deposit. The streets had been cleared away so people were walking around while they still had time before the sun set and the snow started falling again. The sun had almost gone down, but Elsa looked on, waiting for it to disappear. _

Tonight will be New Year's Eve! That means I can have a fresh start, another year to learn how to control my powers… _Elsa paused, _no, my curse. Father says it's not a curse, but I can see the lie in his eyes. He knows that it's a curse. He just doesn't say it.

_She sighed and moved away from the window, taking a seat at her desk and reading her Latin language book. Since it was the holidays, her tutors were currently on holiday leave from the castle, leaving Elsa to read up on future lessons for when they came back, although Elsa wouldn't blame them for leaving if they knew the truth about her. Some did and had to be replaced. Others had suspicions and treated her with veiled caution_

_There was a knock on her door, signaling whom it was before Elsa even heard them, or him in this case, speak. There were only two people that knocked like that: the servants or her father. She stood up and cleared out her throat, "Enter." She said quickly, remembering one time when she had a break down and said "no" to her father. He didn't take kindly to that at all. _

_The door opened and Elsa's father, Agnarr, the King of Arendelle, was inside her room in a second, closing the door behind him, to prevent anyone passing by from seeing inside the room that held Arendelle's royal family's greatest secret. _

_"Hello Elsa," he said softly. _

_"Hello Father," she responded, fighting to keep her head level and eyes up instead of ducking her head and staring at the ground. Once she had actually started training for the throne, her father broke her of that habit quickly. _"A Princess or Queen doesn't look down for others; it shows weakness," he said. "Control is what you need, and also what you need to learn."

_Her father gave a passing glance over the room that in any other company could have passed for a casual one-over. But Elsa knew what he was looking for: any evidence of her powers gone out of control, an excuse to go off on her again._

Well he won't find any,_ Elsa thought a little smugly, then squashed the emotion, as it was unbecoming of a princess. But she had been extra careful to keep her curse under control today and had succeeded in doing so. The room hadn't even gotten cold… excluding natural weather. _

_Her father finished his inspection and there was a strange look on his face when he didn't find anything. Was it relief, or disappointment? "As you know, today is New Year's Eve. A new year to start again," he said. _

_"Yes, I am aware of that." _

_Her father was silent for a moment longer and looked out Elsa's window, hands behind his back in a regal pose. He seemed lost in thought as he looked out onto the fjord. Then he said, "I remember coming into this room last year this time and finding it coated with ice. I was most displeased." _

_Elsa's face betrayed nothing that was going on in her mind. She still remembered the thunderous voice that sounded so unlike her father but still came from his mouth. It terrified her. _

_"So I'm pleasantly surprised that this time your room isn't covered in your… powers," he said, pausing to think of an appropriate word. _

_"I've been trying to keep it under control, and I think it's getting better," Elsa said hesitantly. _

_"No," Agnarr said sharply, making Elsa flinch, "don't make it better, make it perfect. You're growing older and the sooner you can control your powers, the sooner you can be free of them." He took a breath, "It's the start of a new year, Elsa. I want this year to be perfect. No ice, no snow, no frost. Not even a dip in temperature because if there is, then I know you still don't have control. Then I'll have to do something about it." _

_Elsa shivered, not from any cold except the coldness in her father's voice. _

_"I'll… I'll see what I can do," Elsa said, hiding the fear in her voice but not the hesitation. _

_Her father turned to look at her, and they gazed at each other in silence, before he gave a small smile and said, "That's all I ask for." He turned to leave and just as he was about to open the door, he said, "I love you Elsa, I hope you know that." _

_Elsa smiled as well and said, "I know, and I love you too." For some reason it sounded false to her, even though she meant it. _

_Then the door closed and Elsa tried to get back to her studies, unaware or deliberately ignoring the slight coating of frost that covered the floor where her feet were a few seconds ago. _

_(End Flashback)_

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_Please, please go away_, Elsa thought. The ice started growing again, faster in it's pace. It was almost halfway up the wallpaper by now and showed no signs of stopping, no signs of hearing Elsa's pleas. She curled up on herself even more, closing her eyes, wishing that the ice would go away. _Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show. _

Suddenly there was a different sound. A sound other than the slight crackling of ice meeting the wooden floorboards. A sound that made Elsa's eyes shoot open with both happiness and dread.

_*Knock knock kno-knock knock.* _

_No,_ she thought in despair, _not now. Not now, why now? Please not now. _

_"Elsa?"_ Came a slightly muffled voice on the other side of the closed door. It was a young girl's voice, around the age of nine, full of perkiness and a tiny bit of hope that her sister, who had been hiding for four years, will finally come out of her room; that in the first time in forever the closed door will open and the two will see each other.

_No, please, don't start Anna,_ Elsa thought. _It kills me a bit every time I have to do this to you._

But her pleas never left her silent mouth, never were heard outside her own mind except in her sobs. Anna on the other hand, went along with what she wanted to say, oblivious to Elsa's torment.

_~"Do you wanna build a snowman?  
__And pass the time away till night?  
__I want to stay awake  
__Let's give ourselves a break  
__We need to reunite!_

_I wish you were here with me  
__To wait for next year  
__It's only a few hours away._

_Do you wanna build a snowman?  
__It doesn't have to be a snowman…"~_

Anna's voice became more muffled on that last line when Elsa knew that she pressed her mouth against the keyhole, like she had started to so many years ago. Almost immediately actually, once the door closed.

Elsa scrunched up her face, trying to keep her tears from streaming down her cheeks. She had to say this next part, no matter what it cost her, no matter how much it hurt.

"Go away Anna!"

There was silence on the other side of the door, some shuffling, then a dejected, _"Okay, bye…"_

Quiet footsteps retreated from the door, almost inaudible, but Elsa heard each one, and each one felt like a hammer hitting a chisel to split Elsa's heart into pieces. Elsa couldn't hold it in anymore, she cried. All her torn emotions poured out through her tears. She cried to have to torture Anna like this. She cried because she couldn't control her curse. She cried because she was all alone. And finally she cried because she had nobody. Nobody to talk to, nobody to comfort her, nobody that could look at her without fear. Nobody.

Frost and ice completely covered the room, regardless of her will, regardless of her father's veiled threats.

Four years.

Four years since she held Anna's hand.

Four years since they laughed, giggled, and played together.

Four years of forcing Anna away for her own good.

So like last year, and the year before that, and twice before that, Elsa cried herself to sleep that night on New Years Eve.

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**Well, that's the beginning of Elsa's Phantom. Like it? Please let me know what you think. In the future there will be not-so-subtle crossover elements to it; it's just enough so that I can say it is, but not close enough to warrant this to be put in the crossover section. I'll leave you to guess what the crossover will be... **

**You probably have it figured out, don't you... (*grumble grumble*)**

**Anyway, if you liked it please, Read, Review, Favorite, and Follow! (R.R.F.F) for short.**

**Until then**

**-OrangeGalen**


	2. Auld Lang Syne

**Hello there! This is the second chapter of Elsa's Phantom! Thank you to all who decided to give this story a chance, and for the ones that are going to, what are you waiting for?! Hee-hee...**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen**

**Edited on 12/18/15**

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_Tormented, the body will be,_

_When it always feels,_

_But does everything to conceal,_

_And lets itself dissolve due to fear,_

_When nothing could be more clear._

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_ Destroyed, the person will be,_

_When everything cracks,_

_After learning these facts,_

_And that their world is left broken,_

_That even a plea must be unspoken._

"The Cost of Safety" Part 2-  
by Galen Cook (aka OrangeGalen)

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_"Hang on!"_

_"Catch me!"_

_"Gotcha!" _

_"Again!"_

_"Wait!"_

_"He-he-he!"_

_"Slow Down!"_

No not this again. No.

_"Whoooo!" _

_"ANNA!" _

_I watch as Anna gets struck by my ice powers and falls down, deathly still, her mouth still slightly open innocently. _

_ "Anna?" _She has to be okay. All that happened was she got hit in the head. She's okay. She has to be.

_I rush over, stricken, but some part of me knows that she will be okay. Part of her hair will turn white any moment now. That everything will be right again. _

_And Anna's hair did start turning white. I almost give a sigh of relief as things are going as they should. But then I noticed it wasn't just one strand that was turning white, it was all of her hair. Strand by strand, they started loosing all color in them. As I cradled Anna, desperately wishing this wasn't happening, I noticed that her fingertips were turning blue and white. Her skin started forming frost and ice on it, creeping across her perfect skin, covering her. _

No this isn't what's supposed to happen. This _isn't_ what happened. She got hit in the head. It was just her head, not her heart. I couldn't have…

_The frost crept upwards from her hands and started covering her arms, then her dress. _

No. No. No. No.

_"Momma! Papa!" I shout in desperation. _Please get to us in time.

_"You're okay Anna, I got you."_ _Her body is becoming stiff from the ice, and for once I notice the cold. It felt as if something was crawling across me, uncomfortable, insidiously invasive. What scares me the most though is that the cold is coming from Anna, and I can feel it wafting off of her. _No she's supposed to be the warm one; she has to be okay.

_Frost and ice spreads around me, covering the entire hall with a layer of ice. The snowman we two just built a few minutes ago falls apart, an adequate metaphor for the future. _

Please, no. No.

_Anna continues to freeze. I see the ice creep up her neck and soon it is over her cheeks, dusting them like perverted copies of the freckles she already has. _

This isn't supposed to happen. This isn't what happens. What did I do?

_There is a pounding on the door of the hall, but the ice is too thick and is preventing the people from getting inside._ Please.

_Anna stirs in my arms and moans, and for a brief moment I think that she is going to be fine. That she'll wake up. _She has to. She has to be fine.

_But suddenly her hair looses the last bit of fire it had and turns completely white. She stiffens unnaturally. Her entire body and her clothes turn to ice. Cold ice. Solid ice. Clear ice. Ice where there once was a little girl. Dead ice._

No, no, no, no, no!

_"Anna? Please wake up. Wake up!"_

This isn't supposed to happen!

_"ANNA!" _

_The ice statue releases its last breath in a fog, and then everything is silent. _

Nonononononono!

_My parents finally break through the door, the hinges completely frozen and break apart, causing the doors to crash down, echoing in the hall._ _"Elsa, what have you done!?" _

_I look up at my mother and father, tears in my eyes. "It was an accident! An accident! I'm sorry Anna." I cradle Anna's statue in my arms hoping that she becomes real again. She's like a crystal, and it would have been beautiful if I didn't know that it was a person a few seconds ago. That it was my sister. _

_"Anna's dead. You killed her." _

_I look up wondering whose voice that was. My father is looking down at me, and I recoil from the look in his eyes. They have darkness in them, and he's looking at me. That darkness is directed at me! "No, I couldn't have. I didn't mean…"_

_"She's dead because of you Elsa." This was my mom now, the same tone my dad had, the same look. "You couldn't keep it under control. Now look what's happened!" _

_"Anna…"_ Nononononononono! This isn't what happened! She's alive!

_"How could you!?"_ _My father roared, causing me to let go of Anna's ice statue and crawl backwards along the floor in fear. It landed with an audible thump and rocked slightly unbalanced. He advanced towards me and I kept backing up, desperate to get away from him. _"_How could you kill your own sister? How could you even be our daughter? You're not! You're not a human; humans don't kill their own sisters! You're a freak, a monster!"_

_Just then I realized that he was right. I just killed by own sister. Not my powers, I did. Me. Elsa. My powers only helped me, tempted me. They had nothing yet everything to do with this. It was true, I am a freak. I am a monster._

_"Monster."_

_Monster._

Monster.

Monster!

MONSTER!

**MONSTER!**

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

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Elsa bolted upright in her bed, griping her sheets, shrieking. Damp, cold sweat stuck to her forehead, making it even clammier and colder than before. She gasped for breath, swallowing in the precious air that her body needed. Slowly, she came to realize that she was still inside her room and not the ballroom like _that_ night. That realization didn't bring her much comfort as she noticed her room covered in ice, glittering ominously from the reflected moonlight. The walls, the floor and even the bed were frosted over, a consequence of her nightmare. Of her curse.

Elsa had to sigh with some relief that it was just her room, and nobody else was there for her to hurt, to see. But then the thought occurred of what would her father do if he found out. She lay back on her pillow with a slight crunch, staring at the top of her bed cover, trying to not think. For all intents and purposes, she was dead to the world. No doubt that there was some part of her that wished it was a reality, that it would be easier that way.

A few minutes, or it could have been a few hours, passed without her having any success in controlling her emotions. Eventually she gave up, and got up. She walked over to her mirror, making gentle crunching sounds when her feet made contact with the icy floor, the ice thin enough that any sort of pressure would crack it.

The mirror thankfully wasn't frosted over too badly so she could see her reflection. Elsa could see herself, the frost clinging to the gold engraved edges spreading out like little spider webs over the reflective surface.

Elsa started to talk.

"Well I look terrible," She said to herself, or to her reflection. _Better start with something to get things rolling._

"That's because I had that nightmare again."

"I can't stop them. I keep playing _that_ night over and over in my head. What am I supposed to do?"

"Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show," she said monotonously, tonelessly, as if repeating something told to her.

"I keep hearing that, but what does that mean?" Elsa, or the non-reflection Elsa asked, pleading. "How is that supposed to work?"

"If I don't feel, then I can conceal my curse so they don't show," she reasoned.

Elsa started pacing in front of the mirror, crunching the ice beneath her. "I know that, and I try to follow it as best as I can, but I'm afraid. I don't want to hurt anybody." Unconsciously she clutched her gloved hands to her sides.

"All the more reason to not feel. I shut myself in here for a reason, to keep myself away from… from Anna, to keep her safe until I can control my curse," she continued her reasoning, parroted or not.

"But it's not being controlled, it's getting worse. I can't touch anything without my gloves otherwise it freezes. I can't control it."

"Then being in here is the next best thing. In here, if I don't let them in, then nobody gets hurt."

"Yes, it's for the best. I need to stay in here. "

"Be the good girl, you always have to be." That came out slightly condescendingly, mockingly.

Elsa straightened up and looked at herself in the mirror. "Even if it hurts Anna, it's for the best." _To keep her safe. To keep everybody safe. _

_I wish that it only didn't hurt _me_ so much._

With her not so internal conversation finished she just looked into the mirror in silence, staring at herself. No sounds could be heard in the castle. It was dead silent. For once, her mind wasn't thinking and she was enjoying the peace.

**_BONG!_**

Elsa jumped when a loud noise sounded in her room.

**_BONG!_**

She looked around for the source of it.

**_BONG!_**

She realized that the sound was coming from her grandfather clock in the corner of her room.

**_BONG! _**

Strangely it wasn't covered in ice, but that only registered after a moment before she realized something else.

**_BONG! _**

_Oh, it must be midnight, _she realized, _the start of the New Year._

**_BONG! _**

_The start of another year of hiding. _

**_BONG! _**

_The start of another year of isolation. _

**_BONG! _**

_Another year of loneliness._

**_BONG! _**

_Another year of avoiding Anna…_

**_BONG!_**

_I wonder if she's awake now…_

**_BONG! _**

_"The sky's awake…"_ She giggled morosely, remembering _that _night.

**BONG!**

Elsa let the last bell tone ring out. There was silence for a moment before she heard another sound, the sound of distant servants and maids singing. Curious, she put her head against the floorboards and listened to the song for a while. Faintly she heard:

_~"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,  
__And never brought to mind?  
__Should auld acquaintance be forgot,  
__And auld lang syne?_

_For auld lang syne, my dear,  
__For auld lang syne,  
__We'll take a cup of kindness yet,  
__For auld lang syne._

_And there's a hand my trusty friend!  
__And give me a hand o' thine!  
__And we'll take a right good-will draught,  
__For auld lang syne._

_For auld lang syne, my dear,  
__For auld lang syne,  
__We'll take a cup of kindness yet,  
__For auld lang syne."~_

The song ended and Elsa eventually straightened up from her crouching position. She yawned, realizing that she was still sleepy, and it _was_ midnight, but hesitant to climb back into her bed for fear of her nightmares returning. But as the minutes went by, she resigned herself to the inevitable and slowly went over and got back inside the sheets, brushing off some of the ice. Sighing once more, she laid her head back on her pillow and tried to sleep, closing her eyes, pretending that everything would be fine tomorrow. Even to herself she knew it was a lie, but she put it out of mind for now.

She just got comfortable when she heard another sound: a voice singing. It was a rich male tenor that seemed to pour emotion out with just a few notes and lyrics. The voice seemed to be singing to himself, but Elsa caught the words, words that she heard a few minutes ago.

~"For auld lang syne, my dear,  
For auld lang syne,  
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,  
For auld lang syne."~

It was a beautiful voice, producing a sound that Elsa never thought any voice could make. Every note was spot on and in perfect pitch. It was a voice that could belong to an angel. It was almost enough to lull Elsa asleep by itself. But there was just one problem.

The voice was far too close for comfort in a supposedly _empty_ room.

Her mind working again, Elsa opened her eyes and shot upright in her bed. There! Looking out the window, sitting on her windowsill inside her room, was a man! Her eyes widened as she took him in. He was sitting in profile to her, highlighted against the moonlight, making him seem to glow with an ethereal light. His trousers were black and he had one leg up balancing on the windowsill and the other hanging towards the ground. A long black cape with a silver lining hid the rest of his body from sight, long enough to almost reach the floor. His hair was one of the most interesting things about him. It was short, reaching to the back of his neck and slicked back, shining in the moonlight, and it looked like to be a mix of two colors: orange at the roots and black from the middle till the ends, giving him a look of a tiger.

A million different questions raced through Elsa's mind, but she finally stammered out the two most important. Or the two most prominent in her mind.

"Wh-who are you? How did you get in here?" Her voice shook from fear, fear of this stranger, and fear of hurting him. _Get out before I hurt you… whether I mean to or not… I can't control it… _she wanted to tell him.

The man didn't look at her, or react at all, continuing to stare out into the wintery night. Elsa's fears started to get out of hand again, her control slipping, the room being frosted in a second layer of ice. But as Elsa was about to say something again, warning him about her curse, he stirred. Moving his head, he turned to look at her. Elsa gasped, as she saw his eyes. _They're an icy blue, like mine,_ Elsa thought. If possible they were even brighter than hers, shining with an unseen internal light, hidden passion.

They looked at each other for a moment in silence, neither one moving. The frost stopped its movement, holding still as if sensing the anticipation. Even the night seemed to pause, waiting for what was about to happen. Then the man did something unexpected.

He smirked.

Smirked.

He _smirked!_

Elsa didn't know what to make of it. _Why is he _smirking_? Does he not see the ice around the room, what I am, what I can do to him? Why is he here?_ The man's reaction was so unwhat Elsa expected that she didn't understand it.

Before she could voice any of her questions, the man vanished, like a puff of mist in a strong breeze, disappearing. One moment he was there, the next, he was gone.

_Poof._

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Songs used: _"Auld Lang Syne"_\- written by Robert Burns

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**And that's it for now. Who is this mysterious person Elsa just saw? Why did he come there in the first place? Find out!**

**As always (R.R.F.F)**

**-OrangeGalen**


	3. Dreams

**Hello readers! It's time for another update today! And more good news: after a few weeks working at camp (9 to be exact) I'm finally going home today! Yay! Sleeping in is fun. **

**Now back to the chapter. Last time, Elsa had a nightmare where she hit her sister in the head and killed her this time. After waking up, she was awake to hear the new year roll along. However she wasn't alone as a mysterious figure was in her room. But then he vanished!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen**

**Edited on 12/18/15**

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_Are dreams just that: dreams? Or are they flashes of reality breaking through the illusion? _

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Elsa blinked. Then she rubbed her eyes with her gloved hands, and then looked at the window again, making sure she wasn't seeing things with her sleep addled mind. _He's gone! What?_

She was seriously confused. _There was a man. Right there. In my room. And he just vanished! _Finally collecting herself, Elsa shot up from her bed and rushed over to the spot where she saw the man in the cape sitting. The windowsill was covered with her ice and frost except for two spots: one was small and in the shape of a boot print, the other was larger from where the man was sitting.

Elsa was thoroughly confused putting it mildly. _How? What? I don't… Huh? _She gave up trying to form a question for the moment; her mind was racing so much, trying to understand and make sense of what she just saw. _He was right here! How did he? Who? What? I'm confused. _

Elsa clutched her head and groaned. _I can't deal with this right now,_ was her first coherent thought. It was well after midnight, she had been forcefully woken up by a nightmare, and now was confused as all get-out right now, so naturally her mind couldn't comprehend anything big or complex at that moment.

_There was somebody in my room._ Suddenly, that one thought broke through the fog of confusion Elsa had in her mind. _There was somebody. In. My. Room!_ A rush of emotions came through Elsa that moment; anger at having her personal space, her domain, invaded, suspicion as to how he got in in the first place without anyone noticing, fear of her curse being discovered, and last, probably the strangest… curiosity. _Just who was he? Why was he here? And why was he so… nonchalant?_

Elsa shook her head and stared out the window again. Arendelle was empty; nobody was out on the streets, singing or dancing at this time of night. They were either asleep or celebrating the New Year with rambunctious parties; but all were inside taking shelter from the cold of winter. The snow still glowed white on the buildings, faintly sparkling in the moonlight.

For a moment, Elsa entertained the thought that she would see this mysterious man that had been in her room, crossing some road or stalking the streets like a wraith or a ghost, but she saw nothing except snow and shadows. There was a fresh layer of snow powder on the ground, smoothing out previous footprints. It remained unmarred. Nobody had stepped out and there were no footprints to be seen of her mysterious visitor.

_He just disappeared, like mist in the wind!_ Elsa was still going over the man's sudden disappearance. She looked away from the window and found herself drawn to her mirror, and stared at her reflection once again. "Nobody can do that, not even me with my curse!" She said out loud. "How can he do that?"

Elsa changed and shrugged, her reflection doing the same. "Of course how do I know if he was even a man? He could be a spirit for all I know."

"Maybe he is a ghost!" She said in mock shock.

"Maybe he has a curse like me!" She thought this time a little serious.

Elsa's mind started racing at that, "If he does have a curse, maybe he knows how to help me control mine, or get rid of it entirely!"

"That is, if he was real." Elsa stopped her overthinking brain at that thought.

"I- I didn't think about that…" She said.

There was a pause. "I think I'm afraid that I might be seeing things, that's why I didn't consider that thought. Seeing a man appear in my room who couldn't possibly be there in the first place and suddenly disappear like that isn't exactly considered to be mentally stable. Just imagine what father would say if we told him." The two images shuttered and wrapped their hands around themselves.

The two Elsa's turned to face one another, or rather, the real Elsa faced the mirror. A moment passed before she said, "Well, I _am_ talking to my reflection after all. Who's to say that that man wasn't in my head as well?" She started chuckling. "I'm going crazy!" She exclaimed in mock seriousness

Elsa stopped, suddenly depressed, realizing what she said. "God, maybe I _am_ going crazy. Seeing imaginary people, talking to my reflection, what's next? No, stop thinking like that," Elsa commanded herself. "I can't think like that, who will know what will happen. Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, _don't _feel. Put on the mask and shove it aside. Can't let it show."

Elsa walked away and looked out the window again, trying to reign in her over imagining brain. Her gloves stayed wrapped around her body, cradling herself, as one would do when they would hold a baby. The sky still remained dark, with the full moon shining brightly overhead. Elsa sighed again. Normally, the snow and night made her feel comforted and relaxed, but this night seemed to make her feel the opposite. Now she was more anxious than ever before.

She yawned suddenly, the action itself and sudden drowsiness that followed taking her by surprise. _Huh. I guess I'm more tired than I thought. Well it _is_ past midnight._ She turned away from the window with the full intent of going back to her bed, no matter the state it was in.

As she made her way over towards her bed, the room started getting darker and her feet felt heavier. A fog descended in her mind and her eyelids drooped and her head started swimming in circles. She couldn't tell if the bed was getting closer or not. The world spun around and Elsa luckily fell onto her bed. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was her reflection in the mirror standing, staring at her.

Then blackness.

* * *

Elsa slowly felt awareness come to her. She sighed and opened her eyes, then shot up in surprise. She was in the middle of a great hall. It was darkened as there were only a few torches lit so she couldn't see much, the rest looked like they had been smothered intentionally. Elsa sat up confusedly, and then noticed that she was still wearing her sleepwear. _Why am I in my nightgown?_ She thought, then, _Is that really the most important question I should be asking right now? I think that a question like 'how did I get here,' or 'where am I' would be more appropriate. _

Elsa looked around the hall, trying to discern any sort of detail about it, couldn't make out much. There was a sole window high up that illuminated the hall with the meager glow of a big full moon, but it barely made a difference in the darkness. There were no people, no banners, nothing. Even the floor was just generic wood. The darkness clung to everything like a thick spider web.

It was then that Elsa noticed that it was cold in here. Though it didn't chill her in any way, she could still feel it. She looked down and saw that there was a thin layer of ice covering the floor. She looked at her hands and saw her gloves were nowhere to be seen. _No no no no no! Not again! Go away! _She thought, believing her curse had gotten out of hand again. She curled in on herself in one of her natural defensive positions.

But then, after a moment, she realized that she didn't make the ice; she hadn't felt any of her curse leaving her and this ice was too smooth and clear, unlike her normal ice she made which was jagged, chaotic, and opaque.

_Or_, she thought in some part of her mind, _like my ice before _that_ night_.

She eventually gathered her courage and uncurled herself. Standing up, Elsa looked around again trying to see anything, but the darkness made it so that she couldn't see more than twenty feet in any direction. The ice floor held no problem for her, making her thank her curse for once. She started walking forward through the hall.

As she walked, she started having an odd feeling of Déjà-vu. _Why does this place feel so familiar? I feel like I've been here before, but I don't recognize it at all. I can't _see_ it at all. Either that or it's different. _

"So good of you to join me dearie." A female voice rung out making Elsa stop dead, "I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to see you at some point, but patience pays off eventually."

Elsa looked around frantically and tried to see where to voice was coming from. Just ahead of her, there was a shroud of darkness that was deeper than anything that covered the rest of the hall. Elsa could just barely make out a sitting figure in the fog. Something about the whole thing made Elsa feel disturbed on a personal level. "Wh-who are you?" Elsa asked, suddenly feeling intimidated.

There was a melodious chuckle, one that once had been pretty but was now corrupted by malice, and then the voice spoke out again. "I am someone who is closer to you than you can imagine. And I know you quite well, _Elsa_ dearie." She hissed. "I should anyway."

"How do you know me?" Elsa asked, trying to keep the nervousness from showing in her voice, but not fooling anybody.

"Oh dearie, everybody knows who you _were_. The isolated princess with a curse of ice in her heart who killed her sister in cold blood, pun intended."

Elsa's eyes widened in shock, "How do you know about that." She asked, in a barely audible whisper. _Only a few people knew about what happened that night, and none of them would betray my father's trust._ Then she thought and said, "And I didn't kill her! She's fine now. She's asleep right now in her room." She drew some courage from the thought of her sister still living, breathing, and warm.

The woman chuckled again. "Oh is she now? My tenses must be mixed up. It's hard keeping track of everything sometimes. At this point it's, 'you _almost _killed your sister.'" The woman's answer confused Elsa, but there was something about it that chilled Elsa to the bone more than any ice could.

"And to answer your question, you'll find that I know more about you than you know yourself." The woman continued. There was a poignant pause as Elsa felt like she was being scanned with unseen eyes, "Including your lack of control."

Elsa looked down and saw that this time it was her ice that was spreading from her bare feet. Her eyes widened with panic. _No! Keep it together, hold it in. _

_"Conceal, don't feel." _

Elsa looked back up towards the darkness in surprise. Both Elsa and the unseen woman had just muttered the same thing. "What?" Elsa whispered.

The figure's voice dripped with barely concealed venom. "Like I said, I know more about you than you do yourself right now."

The ice Elsa was unconsciously making started creeping up her legs. Before she could move, the ice froze her feet in place to the floor. Elsa tried to break out of it, whimpering slightly, but like usual her curse didn't respond to her wishes and she wasn't strong enough to force her way out.

"I know about your control problems, how you can't get rid of your ice, how to can't use it like you used to. How you're _afraid_. I can help you with your problem dearie." Her voice dropped down to a whisper, inviting Elsa to listen. The figure leaned forward a bit from her position; not enough for her face to be seen through the gloom, but enough for Elsa to see she was wearing a dress that sparkled with what little light was in the hall. It was a midnight black, darker than even the fog surrounding the woman.

Elsa's legs were frozen in ice a little past her knees now, and the ice was still growing, slowly enveloping her. "How?" Elsa asked, her voice laced with terror.

The woman leaned back into the shadows, radiating contentment. "It's simple really. I can show you how to properly use your curse, how to do magnificent and great things with it, and never live in fear again."

"How?" Elsa repeated, the ice now going up her waist.

"Give in." The woman said, catching Elsa by surprise with the answer. _What?_ "Give in to the curse. Don't hide from who you really are. Embrace who you are, or rather who you _will_ be: the future Ice Queen, Ruler and Goddess of Winter. Follow my guidance and I can show you the path to _living_ again, doing what you want, whenever you want without staying locked up in that prison you call a room, without worrying about what they're going to say about you. You would never worry or fear again."

The ice had traveled up to Elsa's chest. She _so _wanted to listen to this woman. Her solution was so simple and easy she felt stupid for not seeing it. _Stop fighting it, _a part of Elsa whispered_, it's part of you and will never leave. Use it instead of concealing it. Ignore other's advice; they can't help you, they don't understand. They never have. They don't even try. Let go. Give in. _

But there was a part of her that was still thinking rationally and made her pause at the words echoing in her. Something about them seemed… off. _Give in? What about what my father said about controlling it? I can't give in; otherwise I'll hurt everybody around me. I need to hold it in, can't let it show. _

"I… I want to, I really do." Elsa said, almost pleading with her voice, "But I can't I just can't."

"_Why?!_" The woman snarled with the most amount of anger she's shown in her voice. She paused and then her tone changed, calming, but no less enraged. "Because you're worried about your father? Worried about Anna? What about yourself, what this isolation is doing to you? Face it dearie, it's destroying you faster than anything else could."

Elsa bit back a gasp as the ice reached her chin, making her barely able to talk. "I need to put duty first. I'm going to be queen eventually, and I need to do what's best." She said, trying and failing to keep a steady voice.

"So you're willing to sacrifice yourself in more ways than one so other's can be happy? You're going to let others control you like a puppet?" The woman said, almost musing to herself. Elsa heard the woman shake her head through the darkness. "You're despicable. You're killing yourself little by little and it will all be for naught in the end. I know, I have seen it. But you might not even get that far if you continue as you are, weak." She finished just as the ice finally engulfed Elsa, muffling her scream as her own ice closed over her.

Elsa couldn't move, couldn't breath, and couldn't feel anything except for mind numbing cold. For once in her life, Elsa was cold and she couldn't even shiver. But she could still see and hear through the ice for some reason. She saw the woman get up from her seat and move towards her, the darkness following the woman, still obscuring her face. It enveloped the ice block Elsa was in preventing her from seeing anything at all. Blackness was all Elsa could see.

"This is goodbye for now Elsa dearie, but I'll be back to offer my proposition when we meet again in the future. You will know me when you see me. For now, keep a critical eye on your father. You may be more… receptive to my offer later." The woman turned away and left Elsa frozen in the ice.

_Help, please!_ Elsa wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Her silent screams went unanswered, and her mind started going blank, numb. She was terrified, more so than when she thought she killed Anna. She could hear the woman's cold laughter echo through the hall. It ate away at Elsa, echoing around until it was overwhelming and she wanted to tear out her ears. If only she could. _Help me…_

But then there was another voice, very faint but it grew stronger by the second. It was singing a simple tune, but it was the most beautiful sound Elsa could imagine at that moment. The woman even stopped her laughing and listened to it. Elsa's terror started dying down, the singing calming her. The voice seemed familiar to her.

_~"Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee, _

_All through the night. _

_Guardian angels God will send thee, _

_All through the night_

_Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, _

_Hill and dale in slumber sleeping. _

_I my loved ones' watch am keeping, _

_All through the night."~_

A light started to shine above Elsa, driving away the darkness. Elsa could feel the ice around her start melting and she became calm listening to the voice.

"No!" The woman snarled, but recoiled when the light glowed brighter and the singing became louder. As the light grew brighter, the woman vanished further into the retreating darkness. The ice melted completely, leaving Elsa free of restraint. The hall started vanishing, and Elsa felt herself being pulled away from the place, towards the voice.

_~"Angels watching, e'er around thee, _

_All through the night. _

_Midnight slumber close surround thee, _

_All through the night. _

_Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, _

_Hill and dale in slumber sleeping_

_I my loved ones' watch am keeping, _

_All through the night."~_

The song finished and the world vanished in one last burst of light.

For a second, Elsa could see an image of snowcapped mountains close in the distance. For Elsa, in one brief, blessed, moment, she felt free.

* * *

Elsa woke up in her bed, and then after a moment, sat upright. _What was that?_ She wondered. _Was that another dream or was it real? _She could still feel the cold creeping up her body. It scared her. _I wonder if Anna felt like that when… no Elsa! Don't think about that. Don't bring that up now, not after two nightmares in a row. Or was that last one even a nightmare? It didn't seem as jumbled as dreams are, but who can tell when they're in them? _

Elsa looked at the clock on the far wall and groaned. It was only 3 in the morning, still several hours before daylight even considered coming around. She flopped back on the bed, several jumbled thoughts going through her head, but one eventually coming out on top. _This is going to be a long night._

In time though, she managed to drift back into sleep, the song and the heavenly voice she heard during her dream being replayed in her head.

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Songs used: _"All Through the Night"_\- by Jules Shear

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**So there you have it, chapter three. Who is the mysterious man, and who is the dark woman Elsa saw in her dream? Don't make assumptions just yet, you may be surprised... but I still like theories. **

**One final note: With this chapter I have now depleted the number of pre-written chapters so now I actually need to write them from now on. In other words: updates will slow down. Not stop, just slow down. Sorry about that if that bothers anybody. But I do have (almost) everything planned out so that counts for something, right?**

**Anyway, please R.R.F.F. (Read, Review, Favorite, Follow)**

**-OrangeGalen**


	4. The Next Day

**Well, so much for the going faster part huh? Sorry but I got caught up with other stories then I had a good almost month and a half of writer's block that I'm barely just getting over with, plus college really screws over my writing motivation. And it's been two months(ish) since I've updated this, so here you go! I've learned now not to promise anything, but hopefully updates will be less than a month apart... maybe? Eh.**

**Whatever. Let's get on with it.**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen**

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**Edit: 11/14/15- Changed Adgar's name to Agnarr, which is his cannon name.**

**Edited on 12/18/15**

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_Daylight washes away the memories of the night, but their effects still cling to us long after we have regained consciousness._

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1863 Jan 1st Tuesday

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The next morning came too soon for Elsa. That statement probably could apply to most of the people in Arendelle right then too, who were nursing hangovers from their late night festivities. Not that Elsa had anything to drink, it was just general tiredness from having a... strange night. The sun streamed through her window, lighting up her room, showing no evidence of what happened that night. No ice or frost anywhere, not even the window, letting the sun shine through without interruption.

However that had an adverse effect on the room's sole occupant. As soon as the sun cleared the mountains, a beam of sunlight went directly into Elsa's face, startling her awake from her dreamless sleep. When she opened her eyes, she blinded herself looking into the light and groaned in pain with the knowledge that she lost all hope of going back to sleep. She rolled over and attempted to defy the inevitable, but then she needed to scratch her feet. Sighing from frustration, she reached down under the sheets to do so.

As soon as her hands touched her feet, she felt something brush off of them: something wet and cold. Curious, Elsa threw back the sheets and looked down at her feet, suddenly staring in shock. Her feet were covered in a fine layer of frost that was already disappearing from the sun's rays. But that wasn't the problem; Elsa had woken up before to a frozen room before, the icy crystals covering her body. No, it was because it was only on her feet, and that brought back the memory of her nightmare. She could almost feel the ice creeping up her legs right then, a ghost memory.

_What happened last night?_ Elsa wondered. _I know I was asleep, but the dream felt so real. Who was that woman I saw and how did she know so much about me? _The last of the ice on her feet disappeared and she flicked them to get the water off.

Elsa got up from her bed and looked around her room, trying to get her mind back into reality. She shook her head when she thought she saw a flash of a cloak, but there was nothing abnormal about her room. Even the ice that had completely engulfed her room last night was gone, thawed out somehow either by time or a strangely warm night. Not that Elsa remembered if it was or not, she had other things on her mind.

She placed her bare feet on the floorboards, enjoying the feel of the wood under her feet without any ice on the floor, then went over to her closet and pondered a moment what to wear for the day. "I'm not really going anywhere today," she said out loud to herself, "so I think something less elaborate would suit today well." She paused remembering something, "However, it is New Year's day today, so perhaps I should wear something a little more refined to reflect that?"

After a bit of deliberation, Elsa decided to go for something a little more formal for today. She grabbed a dark blue shirt that had white buttons and gold Rosemaling patterns, and put on a dark blue skirt with similar patterns. Thinking this enough, Elsa went over and started doing her hair, combing it and putting it into a braid, which she then wound around her head due to habit. Forced habit anyway.

Elsa went over to her mirror and looked at herself, slightly wincing at her face. She had slightly dark bags under her eyes and her body posture showed evidence of tiredness. She was slightly hunched over and her shoulders were drooping, completely not a royal posture and frankly Elsa didn't care all that much right then.

As she poked one of the bags under her eyes, she suddenly remembered something from last night. _Did I really see myself staring at myself from the mirror? Or rather my reflection staring?_ She frowned slightly and walked backwards, still looking at the mirror as her reflection duplicated her actions. She kept a close eye on her reflection, looking for any sign of a difference in movements. At one point she edged herself far enough over that her eyes were barely peaking in the mirror.

She then suddenly jumped towards the mirror and made a loud "Hah!" sound, trying to scare her reflection into doing something different. Obviously the mirror's reflection did the same thing as her and Elsa had practically ended up in the same spot she started off in.

"Huh, I guess I was just imagining things." Elsa said to her reflection as she giggled a bit. "You really didn't move on your own last night… did you?" Elsa waited a beat then said, "Of course you didn't. You're me… or my reflection anyway. You can't move without me. I control you, ha ha ha!" Elsa laughed jokingly and started making weird motions with her arms and watching her reflection copy her, totally not serious.

She suddenly spun around surprised when she swore she heard a chuckle behind her. Her eyes frantically looked around for any sign of the culprit, but she was confronted with an empty room. She spun back around facing the mirror and was confronted with her reflection staring wide-eyed back at her, with the same expression she had. _What was that? Did I really hear somebody? _

"Who are you? Where are you?" Elsa called out to her room. "Show yourself!"

Silence.

Elsa turned back to the mirror, her frown even more pronounced. Now she had even more things on her mind.

A sudden knocking on her door startled her yet again and she jumped a bit, biting back a yelp. She took a deep breath and calmed herself as best she could, preparing herself for her father. "Come in father."

The door opened and Agnarr came inside, dressed for his station. "Good morning Elsa, and happy New Year," he greeted her.

"And happy New Year to you too father," Elsa replied, her hands at her sides.

Her father gave a small smile and said, "Straighten up your posture Elsa. It's not fitting for a royal to slouch." The word slouch coming out of his mouth sounded unused and awkward.

Elsa instantly responded to her father's command and straightened out her back, standing much taller now, but now uncomfortable. He gave a nod and looked around the room, examining it again. "No ice. That's good Elsa, seems that you are taking this to heart."

Elsa nodded. "I am trying father."

"That's all I ask for," he said turning to her, but then stopped. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

Elsa's eyes widened. _Does he know about what happened? No he couldn't have, stop being ridiculous Elsa._ "What do you mean?" She questioned.

"Your eyes have bags under them." He stated.

"Oh that. I didn't have a peaceful sleep last night." Elsa said truthfully.

Agnarr frowned. "Did you stay up till midnight? You shouldn't do that; it's not fitting for a princess to stay up for some absurd reason. "

Elsa shook her head almost frantically. "No, I didn't. I just had a nightmare last night."

Agnarr lost his frown and his eyes became concerned for a moment before they changed again. "Nightmares are only in your mind and are not real. Don't let them affect you."

"I know father," Elsa said, hiding the sadness in her voice. _He didn't even ask me what it was about… let alone comfort me. _

He smiled without showing teeth again, "Good. Now I'll send someone up with your breakfast shortly. Since you do not have any lessons for the next few days you'll stay in here. Is there anything you would like me to send you?" He asked.

Elsa thought about it. "There isn't really much. I've read most of the books here and I really can't think of anything else I can do."

There was a strange emotion on her father's face for a moment before it was shut down. "In that case, I'll send up some more books you can study. Since you don't have lessons doesn't mean you can't stop learning. I'll bring some with your breakfast."

Elsa curtsied and replied automatically, "Thank you father."

He just nodded and walked back out into the hallway, closing that familiar door behind her. Elsa sighed and went to the window again and looked out over Arendelle, or at least the city. There was still at least a foot or two of snow on the ground and there were a few clouds in the sky. The sun had risen higher and was now completely clear of the mountains. Arendelle was starting to wake up.

From her limited view of the town, Elsa could see a few people starting to go outside and shovel away the snow from their front doors. _Just like what the servants used to do after- no Elsa, stop thinking about that. Don't feel. Don't remember. It'll just hurt. _Elsa moved away from the window and was about to sit at her desk when she saw something on the floor. When she came closer, she realized it was the book she was reading, or attempting to read, last night. _I guess I never picked it up from when I dropped it. _Elsa bent down and picked it up and held it, a sudden thought coming into her mind. _Wasn't this completely frozen? If the ice melted then the book should be ruined. But it's not; it's completely fine._

Baffled, Elsa brought the book with her and sat down at her desk. With nothing better to do she opened it again. _No water marks at all. Completely different from what happened last time. The entire book was ruined and father… wasn't pleased…_ Elsa put the book down closed and looked around her room, much like her father just did.

_Where did my ice go? I froze my entire room last night. I shouldn't have, but it happened. So where is the ice? Not that I'm sad that it's gone but… _

She searched her mind for answers, but none came to her. She sighed slightly and sat straight at her desk. The book held no interest for her anymore and she left it on the desk. Elsa waited for her meal to come.

_Waiting. Waiting, watching the days go by. It seems that that has become my life now, interspaced between learning and studying and lessons… How to conceal my curse. How to not let it show. How to control it so it won't escape. Seems pointless, but I need to stop it somehow, otherwise what happened to Anna could be repeated… or worse. _

Elsa was jostled out of her thoughts when there was another knocking on the door that signified her father had returned. "Enter," Elsa said as she stood up from her desk.

The king came in carrying a large tray that had a small assortment of food and a small pile of books. "Here's your breakfast Elsa. I also took the liberty of getting a few language books for you."

"Thank you father," Elsa said and moved aside so he could place the tray on her desk.

When he did, he suddenly froze for a split second then stood up without facing her. "What is this Elsa?" He said. The way he said those four words sent shivers down Elsa's spine and made her take a step backwards unconsciously.

"What is what father?" She asked, trying to keep the shaking out of her voice.

"This." He turned around and lifted up his hand accusingly. Elsa saw that it was the book she had picked off the ground earlier. Elsa's eyes widened as she remembered the last time he found her reading a "pointless fantasy book".

"No, it's nothing. I just forgot to put it back when I pulled it out last night. I didn't read it, I swear," Elsa said frantically, trying to stave off whatever was coming.

"You shouldn't even have this," her father said. "It's not appropriate for a young princess to have her head in the clouds with false stories and fantasies. The real world isn't like this, Elsa. They don't believe in this and when they see it, they become afraid and fear it. It will make them do terrible things. Do you understand?" He finished, coming closer while he spoke, with Elsa backing up.

"Y-yes father," Elsa said, hanging her head submissively to prevent him from seeing the hurt and slight tinge of fear in her eyes.

He nodded and continued, "Read up on these books Elsa. I'll expect nothing less from you." He paused. "I'll send lunch up at twelve-thirty and dinner at six. The trays will be picked up at seven."

Elsa nodded in understanding, "Alright."

"Don't say 'alright', say understood," he told her.

Elsa tried to prevent the sigh that was forming in defeat. "Understood." She said weakly.

"Good." He still had the book in his hand as he started towards the door. Just as he was about to open it, he said over his shoulder, "I love you Elsa."

Elsa gave a very small smile at that. "I love you to father," she completed the verbal ritual

Agnarr went out the door and closed it behind him. Elsa closed her eyes and took a deep stabilizing breath, but before she could let it out, she heard two voices out in the hallway start talking to each other.

_"No Anna, leave your sister alone."_ Elsa's eyes widened as she realized who her father must have run into outside.

_"But I want to play with her,"_ Elsa's nine-year-old younger sister said on the other side of the door.

_"Elsa had a tiring night Anna, she just wants to rest." _

_"Well, maybe she wants to talk about it instead," _Anna said.

_"Anna please,"_ her father's voice was starting to get agitated, _"Elsa wants to be alone right now. She just told me so."_

_ No I didn't. _

_"Let's go eat breakfast with your mother," _Agnarr said.

_"Doesn't Elsa want to eat with us? It's been ages!"_ Elsa could hear the exasperation in her voice.

_"No she doesn't. She asked for her meal to be taken inside her room. Let's go Anna." _

_"But-"_

_"No Anna,"_ her father forcefully cut her off, _"just leave her be."_

_"…Okay." _Came Anna's unhappy reply and Elsa heard two sets of footsteps walk away and eventually fade into silence.

Elsa let go the breath that she didn't realize she was holding in. As she did so, it almost came out as a sob. It broke her little by little every time Anna needed to be turned away from her door. Sometimes Elsa had enough strength to do so herself, to speak to her sister, those three words that crushed her every time she said them. Other times Elsa couldn't and she'd listen to Anna attempt to talk to her through the door, without her answering, until somebody came by and shooed the princess away.

But she would keep coming back and the situation would replay itself.

Elsa slid down to the floor with her back against the foot of the bed. "Why?" She asked aloud. "Why did this happen to me? Why was I born like this? Why couldn't I be normal?"

She glanced over and saw that her mirror was angled in a way that she could see her reflection. And she looked terrible. Her eyes once just had bags under them. Now they were red as well with the hint of tears in them. Her hair was partially disheveled somehow, and her body was trembling slightly, trying to keep her emotions and her curse in.

The temperature in the room started dropping and Elsa curled in on herself. "No, conceal it, don't feel, _don't_ feel. Keep it together Elsa. Don't let them know." _Don't let papa know. _

She stayed like that for a few minutes and she eventually calmed down a bit. The temperature stopped dropping and there was no ice anywhere, so Elsa figured that was an improvement. She stood up and went over to the desk where her food was. Unfortunately it was cold but Elsa shrugged internally and made sure her gloves were properly on first before she ate. Elsa ate her breakfast in relative silence and kept her mind from wandering. _Because if it does, then who knows what could happen._

After she was done, she decided that she might as well read the books her father brought in. They were all foreign language books: French, German, Swedish, and strangely Irish Gaelic as one of the choices. "Don't know why that's one of the books we have. I'm surprised it even got off the British Isles." She was familiar through history books how 'unfriendly' the British were to the Scottish and Irish but she didn't really mind. It was their business, not hers or Arendelle's.

Elsa shrugged, "Oh well, might start off with something familiar. Swedish should do. And then maybe German." She grabbed the Swedish language book and began reading. She would read a chapter, then practice working on the pronunciation and tonal variations. Afterwards she would then write down everything she learned and translated it into Norwegian, then took something and translated it into Swedish.

It took a lot of self-discipline that was driven into her for her to manage this, but she continuously did. For lack of a better reason, there was nothing else to do. She had read the small collection of books that she had in her room several times over. She had counted everything in her room that could be counted. She stared out the window for hours upon hours when she had time. There was _literally nothing_ to do except study. So that's what Elsa did.

Years she had spent perfecting everything she had learned. Math? Favorite part was geometry. History? Knew everything about every ruler of Arendelle since it's foundation five hundred and sixty eight years ago. Sciences, Politics, and languages were all the same. Elsa was well on her way to becoming a prodigy.

But the reason for that was because she was pushed so. Her days were filled with endless tutoring and studying. Her parents, her father especially, considered that any moment spent not learning or memorizing something was wasted. Consequences could be… harsh.

So Elsa pushed herself to the breaking point to learn everything that was expected of her. She would be the good girl and do everything she was told to do. It wasn't as if she had a choice anyway; her powers kept her in line, making sure that not one toe was out of place otherwise she would never hear the end of it.

And that's how Elsa spent most of her days, her years. Alone in her room with only her curse, her books, her lessons, and her mirror.

* * *

The day passed by and Elsa had barely moved from her seat. She had read the Swedish book through and was now re-reading it again just to make sure she had everything. Part of her desk had several pieces of paper on it that were filled with writings Elsa did as she practiced. Lunch and Dinner had been served to her and the trays had been taken away promptly at seven, like her father said. So the first day of the New Year had passed, much like the last day of the old year had.

Once Elsa reached a certain point, she stopped reading and stretched out her body, feeling a few joints and muscles cracking from being in the same position for a long time. "Ah, that felt good," Elsa said to herself. She pushed back the chair and stood up and walked around the room, getting her legs to work again.

"Is it too early to go to bed now? It might make the day go past faster. But I'm not really that tired yet, which is somewhat surprising since I was up at the late hours of the night." She stopped once again in front of her full-length mirror and stared at herself.

"Of course, that was because of the nightmare I had."

"What was that anyway? I can't make heads or tails out of it whichever way I look at it. It felt real, but dreams do that to you and it couldn't have been real anyway. It's impossible."

"But so is having an ice curse on me." Elsa fell silent again, out arguing herself again.

"No, dreams can't come true," Elsa said, resuming. "It wasn't real. It was just my brain, having two nightmares in a row. That's all."

"Oh boy, it sounds like I'm trying to convince myself of that. Why am I so reluctant? It makes no sense," Elsa said in finality. "It was a dream-slash-nightmare, and it absolutely wasn't real. End of story, goodbye, the end, that's it." She turned away from the mirror and just looked at her room.

A sudden knock jolted her out of her staring contest with her room. _"Your highness? Are you there?"_ A feminine voice said from the other side.

_Of course I'm here. Where else would I be, outside?_ Elsa thought sarcastically, but immediately clamped down on it. "Yes? What is it Gerda?" She called out.

_"I'm here to take your dirty dishes, you highness,"_ Gerda answered.

Elsa went over and opened the door slightly, "One moment please," she said to the servant on the other side. Elsa bent down and, making sure her gloves were on, picked up the pile of dishes that she had put on the trays. She had put the dishes there knowing she would have to bring them out come time for them to be picked up.

She opened the door a little bit more so she could pass them through to Gerda. "Thank you," she said.

"Your welcome Princess," the older women said as she took the pile. "Is there anything else you require?"

"No there is not," Elsa answered.

"Very well. Goodnight your highness," she said giving as much of a bow as she could, then left down the hallway, taking the dirty plates to the kitchen to be washed.

Elsa closed the door, knowing that that was the last time she would talk to anybody that day… _Well, anybody besides myself that is_. She sat back down at her desk and mindlessly flipped through the Swedish book again. She already had everything memorized and practiced, so she really didn't need to have the book anymore.

"I could always start one of the other ones," she said aloud. "German sounds like the next one to start." Elsa paused, thinking. "Isn't mama's sister the queen of a kingdom there? Yes, Corona, I remember now. I'll start reviewing my German next." Elsa decided.

She reached out and was about to grab the book when she stopped and put her hand back in her lap. She frowned in sudden confusion. "Why did I do that? I want to look at the German language book. So why didn't I?" She shrugged and tried again, but her hand only twitched this time. "Okay… I don't feel any different? Why the sudden change?" She reflected inwardly and came to a conclusion, "I don't want to?" It came out as a question more than a statement. "But I do… and I don't? Huh."

She tried once more and weakly grabbed the book and brought it to her. She opened it and began reading. "I guess it was just a momentary thing then," she reasoned. She began translating it internally and working out the diction and wording. It was written in part German, part English, which Elsa had no problem reading since English was her close second language. Aside from Norwegian, English was used quite commonly, making Elsa bi-lingual at an early age. Anna also was this way as well, taking lesion very early on before... _that_ night.

_Stop it,_ Elsa thought, trying to squash the feeling of despair coming over her, which she knew would make her curse go haywire. _Don't think about Anna. You can't afford to. Don't feel. _Elsa closed her eyes in concentration, trying to keep in the ice that threatened to come out. Even though she had the gloves on, they wouldn't help if a powerful outburst came.

It worked barely. As Elsa opened her eyes, she saw that her gloves had frosted over. _Well at least it wasn't anything else,_ she thought. She stood up and went over to a wastebasket and shook her gloves a few times to get the ice crystals off of the gloves. Once that was done, she went back and started reading again.

Elsa would read that book for hours as her eyelids started drooping lower, and lower, and lower…

* * *

_She was in an open courtyard which she recognized as the one outside the castle. The fountain was sparkling in the sunlight and Elsa allowed herself a rare smile at the sight. There was a soft breeze that felt refreshing to her. Elsa took a deep breath and filled her lungs up with this air. She slowly brought her arms and hands up as well, feeling the breeze through the fabric of her clothing. _

_Elsa closed her eyes and held that position, just enjoying being outside for once. She slowly exhaled and felt better. _

_Until she heard a scream. _

_Elsa's eyes shot open and looked for the source of the screaming. There was a woman about ten meters in front of Elsa, her eyes were wide with fear, her mouth screeching . _

How did she get there? _Elsa thought. _She wasn't there before.

_Elsa brushed that thought away and refocused on _why_ the woman was screaming. She followed her eye line until it reached the point she was staring at. _

Me.

_Elsa looked to her sides and gasped. The fountain in the center of the courtyard had frozen into a deadly tower of icicles, glimmering ominously. Elsa looked to her left and saw that the entire wall on that side and been encased in ice with several icicle spikes pointing dangerously outwards. _

_She then noticed that both her hands were still outstretched. And both were being held in the direction of where the frozen creations were. Elsa's eyes widened in realization. _

I did that.

_The woman was still screaming, but now it was words instead of mindless sounds. "Witch! Witch! Monster! Sorceress! Monster!" _

_Elsa's eyes became clouded with fear and she started walking backwards. The woman started advancing, still screaming. _

_"No, please, stay away," Elsa pleaded, her hands coming up to tell the person to back off. But as soon as she did so, her ice shot off again and impacted the women directly in the chest. _

_It took less than a second for her to turn to solid ice, her accusing finger still pointing at Elsa. _

_No. _

No.

_"No," Elsa whispered. _

_The sky started to darken and snowflakes started to fall. _

_"Monster!" Elsa spun around and saw a mob of people on the steps leading to the castle. All of them were staring at her with hate in their eyes. _

_"Wait, please, I didn't mean-" Elsa started. _

_"Witch! Monster! Kill her!"_

_Elsa scrambled backwards in fear and tried to get away, but her legs wouldn't work. She turned around and stumbled, falling. She could hear the mob getting closer, but then another voice came over everything, overpowering the mob. _

_"I'm disappointed in you Elsa." _

_Elsa looked up into the hate filled eyes of her father. "I thought I'd told you to conceal your powers. To not feel. But you failed. Now look." He said gesturing around. _

_Elsa reluctantly looked and gasped again. The entire mob had been frozen solid. Some were still in the position of running, with one foot on the ground, perfectly balanced. They all shared a look of frozen horror on their faces. _

When did I do that?

_"No, I didn't mean to. It was an accident," Elsa said, her voice breaking. _

_"Is that what you call it? An accident? Boy, I'd hate to see what it'd look like when you do it intentionally. Oh wait, I have," A new voice broke in. One that was painfully familiar. _

_Elsa turned and saw Anna coming towards her. The white streak in her hair was growing, turning her red hair slowly into a silver-white color. "And let me tell you, it's not quick and definitely not painless." _

_"Anna." Elsa whispered. _

_"Oh, so you do remember me? Funny, I thought that you had forgotten because I haven't seen you in four years." _

_"I didn't mean-"_

_"No, you did. And now look. I'm freezing to death." A cold chuckle escaped from Anna's lips. "And let me tell you something, it's not pleasant. I can literally feel the ice taking over and freezing me, creeping through my body. It's extremely painful. And you did this to me."_

_"No, I didn't…" Elsa croaked out, now curled up on herself. _

_"Yes you did! I'm frozen, look at me!" Anna said gleefully. Then she stood ramrod still and then froze, turning completely to ice, her accusing eyes burning into her. _

_"NOOOOOOOO! ANNA!" Elsa cried out and rushed forward to do anything, give anything to have her sister back. But a hand shot out and grabbed her before she could go anywhere. _

_"Look at what you have done Elsa," Agnarr whispered in her ear. "Your own sister, your people, and your kingdom. You destroyed it all. And what do you feel? Nothing close to what you should be feeling." He shoved her and she landed painfully on the ground, her wrist getting twisted from the impact. _

_"I guess everything I did for you was pointless. You are an unfeeling monster Elsa." _

_"No. I can't. I don't- I don't…" Her wrist was throbbing now in pain. _

_"You. Are. A. Monster." Each word was like a nail getting hammered into her chest. _

_"No. No. No. No. No." Elsa kept repeating over and over again. _

_"And do you know what happens to monsters?" _

_"No. No. No. No. No…" _

_"They are killed." _

_There was a sound of steel being unsheathed and Elsa couldn't bear to look. She couldn't anyway. _

It's true. I am a monster.

_There was a swooshing sound and Elsa felt something come across her back. There was a white hot pain and she slowly started loosing feeling throughout her body. Tears came out of her eyes from the pain. _

_"Well then. That ends that." There was the sound of retreating footsteps and then silence except for the jagged breathing of Elsa that was becoming weaker and weaker. _

Mama, Papa, Anna, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

_Elsa closed her eyes and waited for the end and the blackness to overtake her. She could feel no more. _

_…_

_…_

_…_

_A soft voice started singing and even though the voice was quiet, it could be heard everywhere and by everyone. _

_~"Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, _

_Smiles await you when you rise._

_Sleep, pretty darling_

_Do not cry_

_And I will sing a lullaby."~_

_ Elsa opened an eye, and was surprised that she could do so. _

That voice. It sounds familiar.

_Feeling started returning to her body and the sky started getting clearer, brighter. The voice grew in strength but still retained its tenderness. _

_~"Cares you know not, _

_Therefore sleep,_

_While over you a watch I'll keep. _

_Sleep, pretty darling_

_Do not cry_

_And I will sing a lullaby."~_

_A bright light suddenly overtook everything and Elsa closed her eyes to block it out. The world vanished and Elsa felt at peace with herself._

* * *

Elsa shot up with a start, knocking over the book that was on her desk. She breathed heavily for a few moments before she regained control over her senses. Her eyes looked around before she realized that she was still at her desk.

"Wha-what just happened?" Elsa asked out loud. She felt the side of her face, which was a little numb, and came to a conclusion. "I must have fallen asleep while reading. And had another nightmare while at it." She rubbed her face with her right hand and winced, suddenly holding her wrist in pain.

"Ow." Not much could be said about it though except bear through it. After the pain flared down, Elsa rotated her wrist around to get some feeling into it. "It hurts from when I fe-"! She cut herself off as she realized what finishing that sentence meant. "No. It couldn't have… I must have been resting it in a weird position. That has to be it. Yes, that is the only explanation," she said, trying to convince herself.

She stood up shakily, her legs protesting against the movement. _I must have been asleep longer than I thought, it's completely dark out now. I guess I should actually go to sleep in my bed now._ Elsa got changed into her blue nightdress and was about to get into bed when she stopped, feeling something different in the room. Like someone watching her.

She spun around and blue eyes met blue eyes.

_It's that man from before! _

The man was standing up this time in the shadows next to the far wall. His cape hung over him, further melting his figure into the dark room. But his blue eyes shone through this, like lights in the distance.

Before Elsa could react the man was gone again, vanishing faster than you could blink, leaving an afterimage behind.

Elsa could only stand there and try to comprehend what she saw.

_What. _

_Was. _

That?

Elsa went over to the spot the man was at and found nothing, not even a footprint this time. _Who is he? Why do I keep seeing him, especially after my nightmares? What does he want? Is he even real?_ These questions once again raced through Elsa's mind with no answers available.

She yawned, cutting her frantic train of thought off. _Whoa, that was a yawn. I guess I am tired. He hasn't done anything and I don't think he's real. I should just ignore him when I see him. Hopefully he'll, it, will go away._

Elsa once again went over to the bed and got in. A few minutes later she was sound asleep, at peace with the world.

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Songs used: _Golden Slumber_ (have no clue who it's actually by. It's not me!)

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**So, that's the long awaited fourth chapter! Hope it was worth the wait! This turned out a bit longer than the other ones but I'm happy! And like Elsa, it's time for me to go to bed as well. It's ten minutes till 12 right now for me and I'm half ****asleep myself.**

**So, yet another nightmare, another lullaby, and another visit from that man in the shadows. True tension is not yet, but will be getting there. **

**Until next time, Read, Review, Favorite, Follow. (R.R.F.F)**

**-OrangeGalen**


	5. The Next Week

**Hello everybody! I'm back with this story! I'm glad that some of you enjoy this story so much and I want to thank you for your support! Sorry it's been a while but I'll try to keep up with this more. **

**This is one of the stories I'm updating today, so if you like it, go check out some of my other stories!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen.**

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**Edit: 11/14/15- Changed Adgar's name to Agnarr, which is his cannon name.**

**Edited on 12/18/15**

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_Maybe dreams are our mind's way of telling us something, something that we don't want to acknowledge consciously._

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1863 Jan 2st Wednesday

* * *

Elsa awoke in a bit of a daze. As awareness slowly came to her she looked around the room, knowing she wouldn't see anything, but still checking to make sure that nothing was amiss. _No ice, nothing's changed, that's good, _Elsa thought to herself dryly. Somehow she was slightly disappointed that there wasn't anything. _It probably has to do with me not wanting it to be all in my mind, _she thought.

She threw back the covers, wincing a bit as she did so. She rubbed and rotated her wrist around to get some of the soreness out of it before she went to the toilet and relieved herself. Afterwards she decided to get dressed. After putting on her gloves, she pulled out a blue shirt and a white blouse, and a blue skirt with purple and gold Rosemåling patterns, partially held up by suspenders. Her hair she put into her single braid like normal and wound it up in her bun.

Elsa yawned and stretched, her arms extending and her back arching in a full-blown show of tiredness, then cracked her neck to get the crinks out of it as well. _I'm only twelve; I shouldn't have this kind of stiffness yet. Or at least, I don't think so anyway._ She rubbed her wrist again before sitting down on the bed again, waiting for Gerda to bring her breakfast.

Elsa willed herself to stay still, barely breathing. It was another one of her activities she did to drive away the boredom and/or to try and keep the ice away. It took two years to get to this point, to listen for the vibrations in the stonework, but she had time. It was silent in the castle with only a few people wandering around at the moment. Elsa could hear them all. Some were closer than others by the sound of their footfalls that echoed softly in the halls, others were in the opposite wing.

This was how she was able to hear anybody coming up to her room.

This was how she always knew when Anna was coming up to her room. Not that Anna made any effort to be quiet mind you, but it still counted.

Elsa cracked her neck again to loosen up then pushed off the bed. However she hissed in pain from her wrist and a sudden, yet familiar rushing sensation of her magic came through her arm and out of it. Elsa looked back and she panicked. She had frozen half of the top of the bed. She looked down at her covered hands. _Even with the gloves it doesn't help,_ she thought. _How will I ever be able to control my curse?_

Elsa turned and looked in the mirror, seeing her reflection again. There were circles around her eyes again, but nothing out of the ordinary. _Will I ever escape the curse inside me?_

_Probably not, but it never hurts to be positive. _She moved her wrist and frowned, as it didn't hurt anymore. _Well, that's plus one for the positive then,_ she thought dryly.

Elsa sighed, and then stiffened. _Someone's coming. Two people._

She looked over to the half frozen bed in a panic. Thankfully the comforter was not frozen so Elsa gingerly picked it up, carefully trying to not freeze it as well and reciting her mantra, and pulled it over the icy part of her bed, hiding it from view.

Not a moment too soon because Elsa heard two loud sets of footsteps coming towards her room. There was a knock. "Yes?"

_"It's your father and Gerda. She brought you your breakfast." _

"Come in," Elsa said, and the door opened. Her father came in first and like normal gave her room a glance over before stepping in further. Gerda was next, carrying her breakfast on a tray. As soon as she was in she shut the door behind her.

"Good morning Elsa," Agnarr said as he turned to look as Elsa directly.

"Good morning Father," Elsa replied, giving a stately curtsy.

"Leave us," Agnarr commanded Gerda. She gave a bow and exited out of the room after setting the tray down. "Are you in control still?"

Elsa bit her tongue for half a second to prevent herself from blurting out that she froze part of her bed, then nodded her head. "Yes," she lied.

Agnarr scrutinized her for a moment and Elsa felt something churn inside her stomach. _Does he know that I lied?_

That thought was banished from her mind when her father gave her a strange look and said, "Good. Maybe this year will be different than the last ones…" He trailed off as yet another strange look came across his face. He looked almost… eager?

He blinked and then it was gone, his face carefully neutral. "Now then. Keep concentrating on controlling your powers, and make sure to study. Just because your tutors are gone for the moment doesn't mean that you can slack off." His lips twitched and Elsa suddenly had a strange thought. _Did he… just try and make a joke?_

"Don't worry father, I'll keep up with my studies and will be ready to resume when they get back," she replied evenly.

"Good. Now then, I must get back. I'll leave you to it then." He nodded briefly, then without a backwards glance he left the room as well. Elsa could hear his footsteps as he went down the hall and eventually faded away.

Elsa let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding in then went back to her bed to assess the damage done. The bed was still partly frozen, but it wasn't as bad as Elsa thought it could be. The ice wasn't that thick and could easily be chipped off and cracked in pieces rather than melted slowly, leaving things wet.

_I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next hour… besides eating my breakfast,_ she thought. _So what first, breakfast or ice?_

"Stupid question." She muttered out loud as she walked over to the bed and went to work, breaking off the sheets of ice and throwing them in the sink in the bathroom.

* * *

The day passed by slowly for Elsa. She tried distracting herself with reading and practicing talking in another language to her reflection in the mirror before moving on to trying to reign in her powers again. There wasn't another burst of ice but the temperature of the room did go down once, but no one was around to feel it, so it was fine.

She ate her meals when they came and eventually it was time for her to go to sleep. Or rather, she became so bored that she gave up trying to do something and just get the day over with. But it wasn't that easy, as she lay awake in her bed, not tired at all.

_Great, this is just great,_ she thought sarcastically. She rolled over countless times before eventually starting to doze off. An hour and a half after her head hit the pillows, she fell asleep.

Unfortunately, that wasn't any better than being awake.

* * *

_The wind was howling like an abandoned monster, tearing through everything. She just watched as the snow started to pile up on the roofs of buildings in great mounds. The snow also blocked any exit from the buildings, preventing anybody from leaving. Even if the snow wasn't a problem, the ice coating everything was, forming a solid wall that couldn't be breached. _

_She watched this scene. Everything was a blue-white from the blizzard and she could barely see. And yet she could. Wherever she wanted to look, she could with absolute clarity. _

_Her eyes widened as she could see figures behind the ice covered glass windows. They were panicking and beating at the windows, trying to get out. But the windows wouldn't budge. They were frozen shut and frozen over. _

_She picked up a strange groaning sound that started to become louder than the wind. Acting on some sort of sixth sense, she looked to her right and saw movement. The groaning sound became a line of staccato cracks as the roof of a house collapsed on itself from the piled up snow. She looked on horrified as she could hear screams of pain coming from the ruins of the house. _

_Another crack made her look to her left as another house collapsed, eliciting more screams. _

_Then another house. _

_Then another. _

_And another. _

_And another. _

_Eventually all the houses and buildings collapsed under the relentless winter air and snow. A chorus of pained cries came from the once thriving city, of the dead and dying. _

_She looked on in horror before one groaning and a crack made her look up in shock and fear. The roof above her had finally given way and was now collapsing on her. There was nothing she could do. Timber beams and half solidified chunks of ice rained down on her and she could feel them hitting her back before she collapsed, crushed under the debris. _

_But she was still alive somehow. But only just. And that was fading. _

_Her vision was turning black and there were spots in her eyes that were growing bigger. _

So this is how it ends, _she thought. Then her world went black. _

_Strangely though, she could still hear. _

_~"Sleep my lady, you are blessed;_

_'Tis a mother's arms around you. _

_Make yourself a snug, warm nest. _

_Feel my love forever new. _

_Harm will not meet you in sleep, _

_Hurt will always pass you by. _

_Child beloved, always you'll keep, _

_In sleep gentle, mother's arms nigh."~_

* * *

Elsa woke with a start, gasping for breath. Then she rolled over wincing as she felt her back spasm in protest. As to what that protest was, she couldn't think straight enough with her nightmare, sleep deprived mind to know what it was. She gritted her teeth and waited for the pain to subside. _Ow ow ow ow, why?_ She couldn't help but think about the pain.

After what felt like hours, but really a few minutes, the pain lessened enough for Elsa to breathe easier and to think clearer. She sighed as the pain went away and then rolled onto her back and stared at her ceiling. _Again. Another nightmare. Why? Why do I keep having these? I never had nightmares _this _frequently before._

She blinked. That feeling was back; the one that you felt as if there was someone else in the room, watching you. Elsa sat up hurriedly and looked around.

She blinked again. The man from before was standing in front of her mirror looking at his reflection. His blue eyes were focused on the mirror image of themselves, as if trying to peer inside the mirror. After a few seconds, the eyes shifted and focused on the reflection Elsa was making. Their eyes met for a brief second or two. He nodded.

Then the man vanished once again.

Elsa looked at the spot again, then groaned as she laid back on her pillow. _I'm never going to figure this out, _she thought morosely.

* * *

1863 Jan 3rd Thursday

* * *

Elsa woke up tired. Once again she didn't get enough sleep and it was definitely showing. Her eyes had bags under them and her normally clear eyes were hazy and slightly bloodshot. However, Gerda or Kai didn't seem to notice when they came into her room to either deliver her meals or drop off some books or paper she requested. Either that or they chose not to comment out of respect, not stepping outside of their boundaries.

She was bored again. Really bored. It might have been fascinating to be this bored if it wasn't… well, so boring. For once she had enough peace of mind to not worry about her powers- her curse running amok. It was nice for the first half of the day, but then she found herself where she is now.

_I've read that, finished that, and that,_ Elsa marked off her mental checklist. She yawned then continued her tirade out loud. "I could practice languages again, but I have everything pretty much right so what's the point?" She chuckled to herself as a sudden thought came into her mind. "I can almost hear father saying, 'Repetition is a necessity for success'. But I don't feel like it right now.

"Why though?" She wondered. "I don't think I've felt this way before. I've always been eager to learn new things. So why am I rebelling against learning? Maybe therein lies the answer: new things. Repeating the same thing for the fourth time can get tiring after you understood it two times before that."

Elsa ended up in front of the mirror again. "I suppose that it's completely understandable then why I'm bored then."

"So why do I feel like I'm disappointing somebody when I'm not studying or doing something productive?" She asked.

"I think it's more of one or two persons you're thinking of that you're disappointing really," Elsa said aloud.

She frowned, "Who?"

"I think you know… Wait, what?" Elsa said, breaking out of the conversation flow, confused that she voiced some of her innermost thoughts without meaning to. "Did I really say that out loud?"

Replaying the last few moments in her head, she shrugged. "I guess I did. Now I _know_ I'm really bored."

Elsa gave a sad smile to her reflection, then shook her head and walked away from it.

A few minutes later after picking up several books and then putting them back after she tried to read them she was back in front of it talking to herself in a stream of conscious speech. That's how she was until her supper came, when she stopped, and after Kai left with the empty plates, when she resumed. After then was when she decided to finally just get the day over with and go to sleep.

And she had another nightmare.

* * *

_She was in the middle of town and it was dead silent. Everything was still; even the wind and sea seemed to be stuck in time, with barely even a ripple visible in the night sky under the moonlight. _

_She knew that if she were able, her breath would be coming out in gentle puffs. The air felt heavy and oppressive, like something was waiting to happen, and Elsa really didn't want to find out what that something was. So she started walking back to where she knew the castle was. _

_However, after a few minutes of walking, she found herself back in the town square._ Huh, this isn't right. _She tried walking again in the opposite direction and once more found herself back where she started._ This definitely isn't right.

_The silence of the night was broken by a low grunting, like an animal carrying a lot of weight, and a shuffling sound, like feet being dragged across the ground. Elsa's eyes widened at the sudden sound and backed away from where the sound was coming from. Soon she couldn't hear it anymore and breathed a sigh of relief. _

_It didn't last long as the same sound came from somewhere behind her._ _Startled again, Elsa went back the same way she came, only to hear the first grunting again. She ran off at an angle to get away, only to be stopped by yet another sound. She returned to the square and huddled against the fountain as the sounds of the grunting and shuffling came closer, without there being anything to see. _

_As the sound became overwhelming, Elsa broke. "Stop it! Leave me alone!" She screamed to the surrounding buildings, hoping against hope that it would work. _

_To her surprise, it did. _

_Everything was silent again. _

_Elsa sighed in relief and closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the fountain tiredly. _Can't I just be left alone? _She sighed again and opened her eyes._

_And immediately screamed in abject terror. _

_All around her were people, but instead of skin, they had ice and snow, and their eyes were all shining a haunted pale blue. Their hair was made of frozen strands of ice, but the worst part was that they all looked real. Moles, eyelashes, freckles, all there. _

_And all of these ice-people were staring at her, surrounding her, staring at her with those cold blue glowing eyes. _

_"No! Go away!" Elsa flung her hand and inadvertently launched some icicles at the snow people. They pierced right through them and they fell with a thud. But the rest of them stood standing, silently, staring. _

_Everywhere she looked, they were staring at her. She could almost feel their eyes piercing her as she felt little pin pricks start to stab all over her body. She couldn't escape since that would mean touching one of them, and her mind and body recoiled from the thought of that happening. "Stop it!" She shouted, "Stop it stop it stop it stop it stopitstopitstopit!" Elsa curled in on herself and prayed that this nightmare would end. She felt herself grow faint. Everything started to fade out, but the silence was broken by a voice signing. _

_~"Have no fear now, leaves are falling, _

_Gently falling at your door, _

_Have no fear now, wave are beating, _

_Gently beating on the shore, _

_Sleep my darling, none shall harm you, _

_Nor alarm you, never cry, _

_In my arm sweetly smiling_

_And beguiling those on high."~_

* * *

1863 Jan 4th Friday

* * *

Elsa awoke, her eyes wide as the clock's chimes signaled that it was two in the… morning? Right? As she calmed her beating heart, she felt a slight pressure leave her arm. She twisted around and saw the man in the cloak with the blue eyes again. This was the closest she's seen him, but before she could get any details about him, he gave a soft smile and vanished like the other times.

Elsa blinked, then groaned. _Not again. This is the… fourth time? Fifth time? I've seen him at least that many times, _she finished.

_Is he the one causing the nightmares? Every time I've had them he's appeared afterwards, but why would he do that? Actually, no… I don't think he's the cause of them. He doesn't feel menacing or threatening at all… except for the initial surprise of when he shows up. He's actually… comforting. So, no, he's not causing the nightmares. Then it must be all me then. _

Elsa rolled over and closed her eyes, a tiny bit of tears forming before she wiped them away with the back of her glove covered hands. She drifted in and out of sleep until the sun appeared in the sky.

She never noticed the icicles impaled in the opposite wall, barely missing the mirror, as they slowly melted, leaving only small holes in the wood of the wall after they were gone.

* * *

Elsa spent the entire day in a dreary daze, sleep threatening to overcome her at a moment's notice, but her fear of another dream keeping her awake. The day started off beautifully, but soon turned cloudy and grey. At midday it started snowing with little white flakes of ice and snow falling from the sky, softly landing on the rooftops and the streets, refilling what had been partially melted since New Years.

It would have been beautiful if Elsa could feel anything.

From a certain point of view, that was a good thing. Her _'Conceal, don't feel'_ thing was actually happening, just because she was so tired to feel anything. Kai and Gerda had noticed this and tried to do something, but realistically couldn't do anything other than offer assurances that it'll be all right in the end. Elsa could see the doubt in their eyes at their own proclamations and knew that they were just that: empty words. As much as they wished they could, and as much as she wished it, there was nothing they could do.

Another day was spent alone with nothing to do. Several times during the day she fell asleep, only to be woken up by brief nightmares that she couldn't remember. By the time the day ended, she was a mess, putting it mildly. As she looked in the mirror, she took in her appearance. Her eyes were red and swollen, with dark bags under her eyes. Her white-blond hair was in disarray from her constantly running her hands through it and her clothes were creased. _And is that a vein in my forehead? _

Most of the day she was talking to herself in the mirror, that is, when she wasn't suffering from sleep: either being in it or lacking it.

"Why does this happen to me?" She asked rhetorically.

"The nightmares or am I talking about my curse?" She wanted to clarify.

"I was talking about the nightmares, but my curse also applies as well."

"The curse I can't answer, but the nightmares I can guess at."

"They're probably caused by stress; the stress of me trying to control the curse inside me," she reasoned.

"And it's now taking its toll on me. Four years is a long time to be wrestling with this by myself."

"I'm not by myself though, pa-… _father_ and mother are helping me, and Kai and Gerda also help."

"But what do they help you with? Have they actually done anything for me?"

"They've supported me, encouraged me."

"That's nice." She sounded unimpressed.

"And they've told me what to do, how to control my curse."

"Hmm." Still more doubt. "Anything else?"

"And… and… I don't know. Nothing's changed! I'm still where I was four years ago. No, it's even worse now because I can't touch anything without my gloves otherwise it freezes. Ugh, I just want this to end…"

Elsa stared into the mirror and looked at herself. _I look terrible, but… I'm too tired to care._

An hour later she fell asleep, but not for long. Another nightmare struck, and once again she heard a voice signing, then she woke up to find the man somewhere in her room before he disappeared again. As was becoming common, she didn't get much sleep that night either.

* * *

1863 Jan 7th Monday

* * *

Saturday and Sunday were more of the same. Sleepless nights mixed with nightmares and song. Saturday's nightmare was Elsa stuck in a frozen wasteland, vast and completely empty. She kept walking until she collapsed exhausted from walking. Then she woke up after hearing that voice and seeing the man again.

Sunday changed when Elsa after her dinner asked for something, anything, that would let her sleep through the night, a dreamless sleep. The concoction that Gerda had brought was given with a sorrowful look on her face, as if she knew what Elsa was going through.

Not that the sleep potion helped at all. Sure it kept her asleep, but the nightmare was more intense as she was trapped in a room. It looked innocent enough, but she couldn't hear anything outside of the room. As she paced around for what felt like days, she noticed that the room was getting progressively smaller. She tried everything, including using her curse magic to get out, but the ice wouldn't go away and that just made it more cramped. Eventually she was trying to use her feet to keep the walls away, and then she was being crushed until the voice came again. She didn't wake up, but fell into a black abyss until morning came.

Monday progressed sluggishly as Elsa would catch herself nodding off and forced herself to stay awake through sheer willpower. The words in the books started blurring together and she gave that up as futile. She barely ate anything when her meals came, and mostly spent her time just staring into her mirror at her reflection.

Now, it was getting to nighttime again and Elsa had moved to looking out the window. Snow still covered everything and probably wouldn't be gone until months from now. It was pretty, but she wasn't feeling anything from it at all. She was tired, so tired. Her feet and eyelids felt like lead and her heart felt the same way. _Nothing. Nothing has changed and nothing will change. Why do I even bother? I know that eventually my curse will rear its iceilan head again and ruin any progress I've made. I'll disappoint pa- _father_. I'll disappoint mother. And I'll never see Anna again_.

_What's the point of it all? Why was I born with this curse? Why did it have to be me? Why did I hit Anna _that _night? Do I hate her? _No!_ I don't. Don't even think that!_

Elsa pulled her hand away from the wood of the windowsill as it was starting to frost over. "There is no point. I'll never get anywhere. I'll always be considered a… a monster. A freak. Why should I even bother? I just want this to end…"

She furiously wiped her eyes clear of tears, then watched as they turned to ice on her hand. She stared at the ice a little oddly, a strange expression on her face. "Ice… it can be beautiful in the right circumstances." She held her hand up to the moonlight so that the ice reflected the beams. "But my ice… it can't be like that. It's only destructive, poisonous. My curse has affected all of Arendelle, even if to some it's only indirectly. It might be better if I just get rid of the cause… yes. Yes. It's the only… the only way. To truly end it."

She took off her glove on her right hand and for the first time in forever, Elsa willingly used her powers. A sharp shard of ice formed in her hand, surprising Elsa only slightly that it didn't shoot itself into the wall. She tested the point of it, satisfied when she could feel the point through her glove.

She gave a small laugh. "Now this will be poetic justice," she said to herself. She turned the ice shard so that she was holding it in both hands, positioned above her heart. _I… I have to. To keep everyone safe. To keep Anna safe. _

"Goodbye Anna."

She closed her eyes and plunged the shard towards her heart.

Something closed around her arm, stopping the shard from its deadly decent. Elsa's eyes shot open. A pale hand was clenched around her right hand, holding it in place, halting the hand from moving no matter if she tried. Elsa looked further up the arm, then to the person's face. It was the man. The man that was always there after her nightmares, offering silent support to her. The man who had been there the last week of her life, since New Years. Elsa's blue eyes connected with his and the man finally spoke to her.

"Stop."

At that moment, Elsa finally admitted and believed that the man was real.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

* * *

Songs used: Slightly modified _Suo Gan_-Traditional Welsh lullaby.

* * *

**Yes, the man has finally spoken! It's been a long time coming, but I hope the wait was worth it. After all, this story's only getting started! **

**Until next time (R.R.F.F)**

**-OrangeGalen**


	6. Who Are You?

**Hey-o everyone, I'm back again. Literally, I have about six other Word docs. open right now and trying to get another chapter done with some new and old stories. Yes, once again I have new stories I'm going to post relatively soon. But getting back to this one, sorry if it's a little shorter than normal, but that's how things go. *Shrug***

**Special shout out to the Community _Heard as the Outcasts Hear_, of which I am a staff of, along with extremeenigma02 (who is the founder), FallenKunoichi, Megknsis, grapejuice101, and onyx faye. This community is dedicated to Phantom of the Opera stories, and good crossovers of that nature. Go check out some of the awesome stories we've archived! **

**Now onto this story.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen.**

* * *

**Edit: 11/14/15- Changed Adgar's name to Agnarr, which is his cannon name.**

**Edited on 12/18/15**

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

* * *

_It is a fact that when children are removed from all contact with other humans, they will, in turn, become less of one. _

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

* * *

1863 Jan 7th Monday

* * *

_"Goodbye Anna."_

_She closed her eyes and plunged the shard towards her heart. _

_Something closed around her arm, stopping the shard from its deadly decent. Elsa's eyes shot open. A pale hand was clenched around her right hand, holding it in place, halting the hand from moving no matter if she tried. Elsa looked further up the arm, then to the person's face. It was the man. The man that was always there after her nightmares, offering silent support to her. The man who had been there the last week of her life, since New Years. Elsa's blue eyes connected with his and the man finally spoke to her. _

_"Stop."_

_At that moment, Elsa finally admitted and believed that the man was real._

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

* * *

Elsa's eyes widened but she didn't react in any way. She was struck dumb by the sight of the man grasping her had. Their blue eyes connected and Elsa could almost feel what he wanted to convey with that gaze. Alarm, disappointment, sorrow, and pleading. They stayed that way for what seemed like a miniature eternity, for time had stopped and held still, waiting for the next move.

* * *

1863 Jan 8th Tuesday

* * *

**_Bong!_**

Elsa jumped a bit as the clock rung, signaling that it was midnight. The spell was broken and Elsa blinked. The man was still there but now he had shifted so that the hand that was holding her arm was now firmly taking the ice shard out of her own hand. The loss of contact created a buzz in Elsa's mind. _It's been so long since someone touched me, even if he has gloves on himself. _

The man pocketed the shard carefully into his coat just as the twelfth chime faded away. His blue eyes came back to hers. The silence returned, as if waiting for something.

Since he was standing so close, Elsa could have a better look at him. His hair was styled so that it was pulled away from his forehead, revealing his small widow's peak. The roots of his hair, for a good couple of inches, were a color that was similar to Anna's, but the ends of his hair were pitch black, just ending above the back of his neck, not quite touching his clothes. His nose wasn't too large or too small, nor misshapen in any major way save for a slight upturn at the end. His mouth was drawn into a thin line, his lips a light pink.

From the cape he wore, she could tell that he was broad-shouldered and about a head and a half taller than she was. His overcoat was black as well, but there was a brown vest visible underneath, with a white shirt under that. His dark pants were secured by a leather belt with a plain silver rectangular buckle on the front.

If she had to guess his age from his face, she would guess it would be around her father's age. But his eyes told a different story, one that had experience and age in them.

He blinked.

Elsa blinked.

_What am I doing? _

Elsa stepped back from the man with a gasp. Full thought returned to her at that moment. _There is a man. In my room. _In. My. Room. With me! _He's real! But how did he… how did…? _

"How… who… what…?" Elsa stammered out, unable to form a coherent question from the hundreds that were pounding her mind. _How did he get here? How is he real? Who is he? What is he doing here? What does he want with me…?_

Elsa's eyes widened and looked at her hand. The same hand that only a minute ago held the instrument that she planned on ending her life with. The hand that almost killed Anna. The same hand that created that shard to end her pain.

"Why did you stop me?" Elsa asked the man accusingly.

"Do you want to die?" He asked, his voice a smooth baritone.

_What kind of question is that?_ "…Yes." _Why did I hesitate?_

"Do you think that Anna wants you to die?"

Elsa's eyes widened then narrowed. "How do you know Anna?"

"I know her through you," the man said, unhelpfully.

_What kind of answer is that?_ "What's that supposed to mean?"

The man's lips quirked upwards a bit, "You'll know in time. But you need to answer my question: do you think that Anna wants you to die?"

"Probably. I was the one that almost killed her," Elsa spat in self-loathing.

"If that is true then why is she always asking about her sister, and always asking to spend time with her, and wanting to see her no matter what they say?" The man countered.

Elsa froze. An echo came from nowhere and everywhere, which reverberated in her mind.

_~"Do you wanna build a snowman?_

_It doesn't have to be a snowman…"~_

"But… she's forgotten…" Elsa muttered out. _She's forgotten about_ that _night._

"Somewhere, somehow, she knows," the man said, somehow knowing what Elsa was thinking. "It matters not. She still wants her sister. She will _want_ her sister in the future when you eventually learn to control your powers. Anna wants her sister. To hug her without fear, to play without worry, to know her sister loves her as much as she loves her sister, and will always love her for as long as she lives. Which, hopefully is a long time."

Elsa looked at her hand. It was ungloved so she could see her pale flesh. The hand that formed that shard that was her own creation. The hand that would have ended her life. The hand that Elsa was planning on ending her life. Planned on killing herself. _I was about to kill myself… _Elsa stumbled as her legs weakened and leaned against the windowsill, her breathing heavy. "Oh… oh God. What have I done? What was I doing?" Her legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor. The tears started falling and Elsa curled up in a ball, hiding her face from the world.

_Anna, forgive me. Please forgive me. I'm a coward, taking the coward's way out. _

Elsa felt a hand on her back, giving a comforting rub, "Let it go Elsa. Let it out."

For a moment, she let him keep his hand there. But then she instinctively rolled away. "Don't touch me… please." She felt the man's presence nearby, but as she asked he didn't touch her again. He just stood nearby, waiting for her. Not making any demands. Waiting on her time, to move at her own pace. It was… nice.

After a while she felt her tears run out. She felt tired and rubbed her face. She looked up and was sure her eyes were red. Was sure she looked terrible. The man was sitting beside her, his blue eyes still looking at her.

"Who are you?" Elsa asked faintly.

The man stood up and offered his hand to her. Elsa looked at it. It had a black glove covering it, just the opposite of her white gloves. She considered taking his hand, and even started to reach out before she stopped. _But I might hurt him. I don't have my glove on._ She put her hand down and stood up by herself. She almost didn't want to look into his eyes to see the judgment in them, but she did anyway.

He looked back and put his hand down, but nothing else. No silent judgment, no disappointment, just waiting for her actions. His eyes were calm and without fear.

"Who are you?" Elsa asked again.

The man gave a small smile. "It's late. You should get some sleep." He gestured to her bed. Elsa complied and started walking towards it, semi-lucid as she felt her tiredness come over her like a wave. _Sleep seems like a good idea…_

Elsa really couldn't come up with an argument against that and crawled into her bed. She closed her eyes, questions still going through her head, but gradually fading as sleep started coming over her.

"We'll talk more later today," the man said and turned away from her.

As if coming from a far away place, Elsa heard singing.

~"Sleep little girl, you are safe,  
Go and find that secret place,  
To where dreams will comfort you,  
And recall those times you knew.

Sleep young girl, I will keep by,  
To make sure naught is awry,  
Think of those who always love,  
And find what is true thereof."~

_He's the one that's been singing at the end of my nightmares_, Elsa realized. With that last thought, Elsa couldn't keep conscious anymore and fell asleep.

For the first time in a week had a restful night, free of nightmares.

* * *

Elsa woke up much later than normal. The sun was already high in the sky by the time her eyes cracked open. If she were honest with herself she probably would have slept for another hour or two if she could have.

The reason she wasn't going to was because someone was pounding on the other side of her door.

_"Elsa? Elsa! Open up or I'm storming in."_ The sound of her father's voice near shouting from the other side of her door made her jolt awake faster than she would have otherwise.

It took a second for her mind to put all the strings together, but when she did, she jumped out of her bed and pulled open the door.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Elsa said frantically to her father.

Agnarr looked at Elsa and for a moment she saw a glint of humor in his eyes as his eyebrow raised slightly and his mouth quirked upwards. Then he blinked twice and the moment was gone. "Why are your clothes in that state?" He asked.

Elsa frowned and muttered, "Huh?" She looked down at her dress, and realized it was indeed a dress, not her nightgown. She had neglected to put on a change before she got into bed and now her dress was wrinkled and creased. "I… uhh… forgot to take them off before I went to bed."

"And why on earth would you do that?" Agnarr asked.

"I-I…" Elsa was stumped. _How am I supposed to say that I was depressed enough to attempt suicide before a man that I thought was only in my head stopped me and I was too tired to bother changing?_

Thankfully there was a way out, presented by Kai who had gone unnoticed until this point. "If I may say so, Elsa requested a sleep mixture to be delivered for the past few nights since she hasn't been sleeping well. It's possible that she fell asleep before she could change and also overslept because of that."

"Is that true Elsa?" Agnarr asked, a warning in his voice if she lied.

_But, I didn't take it last night!_ Elsa panicked, not wanting to be punished.

_'Say that it worked.'_

"Huh?" _That was the man's voice!_

"I said 'is that true?'" Agnarr repeated, starting to loose patience.

_'Say that it worked. I took care of it last night.' _

"Oh, uhh, yes! Yes, it worked. I feel better now, really." _Except I'm hearing a man's voice in my head now. That's definitely normal. _

Agnarr looked at her for a moment then nodded. "Very well, but you're late for your tutoring lesson on economics."

Elsa's eyes widened in panic again. "Wait, it's Tuesday?!"

Her father frowned. "You should remember this Elsa. Your tutors have only been gone a week. That's not enough time for you to forget your schedule and not becoming of a princess, let alone a queen."

Elsa ducked her head, her eyes downcast. "Yes father. I'm sorry."

"Now fix yourself up. I'll tell the tutor that you're running late. Don't do this again," he warned. He then turned and went down the corridor leaving Kai and Elsa standing there.

Kai shuffled his feet and Elsa gave a start. "I suppose I should change then," she tried to bring a little humor to the situation and succeeded slightly. Enough to restart the conversation, as limited as it was.

"I have a small breakfast for you your highness. It should be enough to last you until midday," Kai said as he picked up a tray he had put down previously.

Elsa took the tray. "Thank you. Tell my father or my tutor I'll be ready momentarily." She turned around and used her foot to close the door. She put the tray of food on her desk but then took notice at the handle. It was covered in ice. She looked down at her hand. She didn't have her glove on. Elsa looked around and saw it on the windowsill and frantically put it back on her hand.

"Conceal, don't feel. Keep it in." She told herself_. I still have my lessons today to get through._

Clutching her hand, she went and changed out of her slept in clothes, then went over to her small meal, which consisted of a warm piece of toast, some oatmeal, and a glass of orange juice.

_Okay, so lessons start again today. I hope that I'm prepared enough for them. The past few days haven't been… the best I've had,_ she tried putting it into thought. She shook her head, refocusing on the present. "Okay. Today's Tuesday which means economics, sciences, and geopolitics. Calm down Elsa. You'll be fine. Just keep your powers under control and you'll be fine," she said aloud. She looked in her mirror and saw herself holding the toast in her hand.

"Oh, wait, I'm talking to myself again."

"At least that's better than hearing voices in your head."

"That's debatable." Elsa muttered as she nibbled on the toast. She thought back to that moment a few minutes ago. "Are you there Mister, Ghost, person? I heard you earlier."

There was nothing. No response.

Elsa shrugged and finished her toast, then went to collect her books. There was a cup on the desk that Elsa recognized as the sleep concoction Kai gave her last night, but never drank. The cup was empty. _I don't remember drinking it. It was still full last night._ Then she remembered what the man's voice had said: _'I took care of it last night'. _

She looked up at the celling and said, "Thank you," not expecting a response.

She got one though. _'You're welcome.'_ It sounded tired strangely enough.

Elsa gave a little jump at the voice in her head again. "Are you going to tell me who you are?"

_'Tonight,'_ was the faint answer, a little fainter than before.

"I guess I can wait to talk to some figment of my imagination until then," Elsa said. She then picked up her books and went out of her room to her lessons for the day.

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The song here is no real song, just something I made up. Use whatever melody you want, but preferably a lullaby-ish one.

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**Well, we finally had our first conversation with the man, and a promise for another later. But now Elsa's got his voice in her head. Lovely. That'll cause problems later, you can be sure. **

**So thank you and remember to Read, Review, Favorite, and Follow (R.R.F.F.)**

**Until next time**

**-OrangeGalen**


	7. Confusion

**I'm baaaaack! After far too long, this story has gotten the cobwebs and dust brushed off (more like blown away with a leaf blower) and updated! Hoo-ray! There's been some changes however. All of the previous chapters have been edited and updated, with little morsels added in, plus some name changes to fit cannon. Agnarr is the King's cannon name (look it up).**

**It's been too long and I've forgotten how much fun this story is! Other Frozen stories I have will be updated and edited much the same way. Give it a month or two maybe...**

**Anywho, let's get to it!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen**

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_Mysteries are frustrating because you don't know the answers, but that is the essential part of what makes a mystery a mystery. _

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1863 Jan 8th Tuesday

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Lessons that day had gone excruciatingly slow. For once, Elsa was eager to go back to her room so she could talk to this stranger, person, ghost, thing. Elsa really had no clue who or what he is. _Is he a ghost, since he can disappear without a trace? No, ghosts don't exist… and neither does magic,_ she added sarcastically. _Or is he a figment of my mind? Considering that I can hear him even if I don't see him, and he's not in the same room as me, I shouldn't discount that. _

She blinked and refocused on what her instructor was saying. She had been thinking about it all day and it was almost the end of it. Currently she was going over geopolitics with her tutor, which ended up being a combination of geology, geography, and the influence of politics on them. The worst part was that this was the one tutor that she liked the least. Oh he knew some of his stuff for sure, but other times he was just so blatantly wrong about the things _he_ believes he knows.

Such as now.

"The belief that the world is round is a preposterous lie that cannot be backed up," the old tutor Gløthen, said. "There is no proof that can be shown to show that the world is round. It just is." He was off on one of his rants after a globe of the current world was brought in, instead of a map, since he took offence to the 'globe' part of it. _Next thing you'll hear is that the sun revolves around the Earth, and we are the center of the universe,_ she thought dryly.

Elsa tried to not let any irritation show on her face as the tutor was berating Kai for not bringing in any maps, but it was difficult. A good rest didn't make up for a weeks worth of interrupted nights. Elsa rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake through the droning background conversation.

_'Good god, how long can he rant? Is he going senile?'_ Suddenly she could hear _his_ voice as if he was speaking right next to her. He sounded exasperated and irritated. She gasped and looked around trying to see where his voice was coming from.

"Your Highness?" Elsa spun around and saw that both the tutor and Kai were staring at her oddly. "Is there a problem?" Kai asked.

"Wha- No, no, I apologize," Elsa tried to center herself as she searched for an acceptable excuse. "It appears that I'm not as awake as I thought I was. I was drifting off," she said as the first thing that came to mind. _I thought that you said we'd talk tonight? _She tried to have a different conversation in her mind. There was no reply from the man, so that went nowhere. _And now I'm negotiating with my own head. _

Her tutor huffed and fixed Kai with a glare. "Perhaps if somebody had brought in a correct image of the world the Princess might not be so inattentive."

Elsa looked up at the tutor and had to bite back a scathing remark as she felt her magic about to go haywire again. _No, not now!_ She hid her gloved hands under the table and could feel the wood under it freeze a bit. _Father can't find out about this! I'm so close! Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel!_ She looked up again and saw Kai giving her a look that was a mix of concern for her and _'help me,'_ as he was still getting talked down to by the tutor, as now he was starting to question Kai's station for some reason.

"Perhaps, Gløthen," Elsa spoke quietly, but firmly, causing him to pause from his spiel, "we should return to my lesson, regardless of the way your tools are represented? What you can still teach with this, right, regardless of accuracy?" Elsa nodded to the globe at the edge of the table. It hurt to even admit he had a chance of being right. However, she kept her shaking hands firmly under the table, grasping her skirt in an effort to clamp down on her curse.

Gløthen blinked. "Ah, yes. Forgive me; I got… carried away in my enthusiasm. I'll make the globe, inaccurate as it is, work."

Elsa nodded. "Thank you." She tried to keep the relief out of her voice. _It's the 19th Century and people _still_ believe the world isn't round? Just like _he _said_, _good god_. Kai made a brisk retreat after giving Elsa a grateful nod for getting him out of there. Even a servant as close to the king and royal family as him had problems. _Mostly with people with an over-inflated sense of ego. _

"Now then," Gløthen said as he sat next to Elsa on the other corner of the table. Elsa scooted away slightly, trying to pass off the movement as giving him some space. "We were about to focus on the Swiss Confederation, or more commonly known as Switzerland." He pointed to a spot on the globe, hiding his scowl of using it. "As you can see, Switzerland is a landlocked country with no access to open water. In addition, it is surrounded by other powerful countries, like France and the relatively new German Confederation. However, because of that, it holds many people with roots in other countries, and is a growing economic site for mainland Europe. It's right in the middle, but hasn't been claimed by others. Why?"

Elsa thought about why Switzerland was as large as it was in the middle of those other countries. _Okay, something must have made it possible for them to not get annexed by others… _"The Alps?" Elsa said.

Gløthen nodded. "Yes, geological landforms, two mountain ranges in this case, make it a suitable location for the people already there to defend themselves, not much so for others to attack. But would the people live on those mountains?"

Elsa once again gave it some thought. "I would say some do, but there would have to be some other feature, like a large valley for the country to support it's people. Most would live there," Elsa reasoned.

"Very good. While most of the country is occupied by the Alps, there is in fact a plateau where the vast majority of their people live, helpfully called the Swiss Plateau."

Elsa nodded and listened through the rest of the lesson, distracting herself from the wet drips coming from the bottom of the table from the melting ice.

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Elsa sighed in relief as she closed her bedroom door behind her and put her study books down on her desk, free from their constant weight of having to carry them around. She sat down in the chair and let out a slight groan. _This has not been a good day… better than some, but still not good._ Rolling her head and hearing several pops of loosening muscles, she closed her eyes and just sat there, thinking, reviewing the day. _Economics was okay, but that dulled my mind with just endless numbers and equations, and they started blurring together. Not helpful today. Science was about the same, but the human body is an interesting thing. Wonder how magic can affect it._ She chuckled at the thought. I probably have ice in my blood.

"And then there was Geopolitics…" she said aloud. _I need to speak with father about the Gløthen. Either replace him or get him to stop going on tangents… though the first might be easier. Older people tend to be set in their ways. _Elsa's stomach suddenly rumbled, reminding her that she only had a quick and meager breakfast and lunch for food all day. _Right_.

As if on cue, she heard a pair of footsteps walking to her door, then a knock. Elsa refrained from groaning as she stood up, soothing out her clothes to be presentable. "Come in."

Gerda came in first carrying something that smelled wonderfully warm and delicious, and it was all Elsa could do not to drool. Then Agnarr walked in behind Gerda. "Good evening father," Elsa greeted.

Agnarr smiled without teeth. "Good evening Elsa. How were your lessons today?"

Elsa repressed a sigh. "They were informational… but tedious since I was tired and couldn't focus as well as I could have."

Agnarr made a grimace. "I understand, but you may not have the luxury of slacking when you are tired in the future. A King and Queen needs to stay alert when information is being given."

Elsa nodded, "I understand." She risked a quick glance to the food before she looked back to her father. "Father?" She asked tentatively.

"What is it?" He asked, curious.

"I was wondering if my Geopolitics tutor could be… replaced?"

Agnarr immediately frowned. "Did you do something?" He asked harshly.

Elsa's eyes widened and she backed up a step. "N-no father. It's just that… Mr. Gløthen goes off on… irrational tangents from time to time, and has some of his facts wrong. Today he insisted that the world wasn't round…"

An annoyed look crossed Agnarr's face and he silently sighed. "Unfortunately, I knew of his tendency to let his mind, and mouth, wander, but there isn't a decent Geopolitics tutor that can get here in a few weeks at least, if that…" He met Elsa's blue eyes directly, and Elsa tried not to look away. "I'll make some inquiries, but for now you'll have to tolerate Mr. Gløthen."

Elsa nodded. _Disappointing, but not unexpected. _"Okay father. I understand." She stopped when her stomach gurgled in hunger and she felt her face heat up in embarrassment. "Uhhh…"

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Elsa heard her father laugh. Sure it was short and like a dog's bark, but it still was a laugh. It counted. "Very well, I'll leave you to your meal." He became serious again, the laugh already a memory. "Remember Elsa, no ice."

Elsa nodded solemnly. "Conceal it, don't feel it."

_"Don't let it show,"_ they both intoned.

He gave a small smile. "Be a good girl Elsa. Goodnight."

"Goodnight father," Elsa said as he walked out. Elsa was sad for some reason, but then she sniffed and got another whiff of food. "Gerda," she said, "could you come by earlier tonight to pick up my plates? I think I'll be finished earlier than usual," she said as her stomach growled again.

She could tell Gerda was doing an admirable job of keeping a straight face. "Of course your Highness," she bowed, probably to buy time to wipe the smirk off her face. She turned serious though and asked, "Do you wish for another sleeping drought to be brought to you?"

Elsa considered it. _I actually slept better without it for some reason. And I know that it can be addicting if used to often. _"No, that will be fine."

"My Lady," Gerda bowed again, then exited out of her room, the door closing behind her.

Elsa wasted no time in bringing her dinner tray to her desk and devouring the food… she did mind her manners though, and used the utensils available. She paced herself though, not wanting to become sick from so much food suddenly inside her previously empty stomach. But she still finished much faster than normal.

She sighed in contentment and leaned back in her chair, bordering on the edge of a 'food coma' from being a bit bloated. She almost fell asleep, but then she realized that there was one last major thing for her to do.

"Uh, Mr. Man, Ghost, person? Are you there? You said tonight we can talk… Hello?"

Silence.

_Don't know if that's good or bad. I'm starting to rethink that he might not be real… Or maybe I am crazy already._ "I can see it now: Crown Princess of Arendelle suffering from hallucinations. Oh, and she's also an evil witch that can freeze us all." Elsa sighed and slumped in her chair. _I'm never going to be able to go out for the rest of my life. _

A sudden crinkling sound made her shoot upwards and away from her desk. Part of the chair's arms were frosted over; not as bad as in the past, but it still signified her lack of control. _No, no. Stop it. Control it. Don't feel!_ She clutched her still gloved hands to her chest. The room grew colder and Elsa started to panic, especially when she heard footsteps coming to her door. She concentrated and almost sighed in relief. _It's only Gerda._

_Knock knock knock. "Your Highness? Are you finished yet?" _

Elsa tried to answer, but all that came out at first was a croak. She coughed. "One moment please," she said as loud as she could. She turned to the table with the tray on it. _Okay Elsa. You can do this. Control yourself. No wrong moves. Don't freeze anything. She'll have to report it to father if she sees, regardless of how she feels. _She reached out, noticing her hands were shaking and grasped the handles. Before anything bad could happen, she rushed to the door and opened it using her elbow. Gerda was standing outside, waiting.

"Thank you," Elsa said as she quickly handed the tray over, careful not to appear rushed or panicked.

Gerda appeared slightly baffled before she replied, "You're welcome my Lady."

"Goodnight," Elsa said and abruptly shut the door, feeling a twinge of regret as that might have come off as rude, but her heart was hammering away inside her chest to loudly for her to care. She sighed in relief and exhaustion as she heard Gerda walk away from the door. "What am I going to do? I'm living a lie, telling perilous half-truths just so I can have a bit more… what? I have nothing. My curse is still out of control, and I'm lying about it to pap-_father_. I'm not getting better."

_'Then find a differe_nt way if it isn't working."

Elsa jumped and spun around. _He_ was there, looking out the window again, but not sitting down unlike previously. He turned around and their blue eyes met.

"You." It almost came out as a question.

"Me," he responded giving a little nod, acknowledging the fact. That raised Elsa's hackles at the completely calm and probably unintentionally cheeky reply.

"Who are you?" Elsa demanded.

"That, is why I'm here," he said. "For you to figure out."

Elsa blinked. _What?_ "That doesn't make any sense," she said, more than slightly irritated.

"Don't all things in life?" He muttered, then shook his head. "At least let us get comfortable while we talk," he gestured to her bed. Elsa raised an eyebrow. _What is he planning to do?_ Various scenarios played around in her head, most of them bad. The man sighed and said, "I'm not going to do anything untold, just talk."

Cautiously, Elsa went and sat on the edge of her bed and watched as the man pulled out her chair and sat in it, moving his cloak out of the way. His dual colored hair distracted her for a moment because of its oddness, but she shook her head and focused on what he was about to say.

"So, you want to know who I am?" Elsa nodded. He gave a rueful grin, "Well, I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that."

"How? How can it be complicated? Just tell me who you are, it's that simple," Elsa exclaimed.

"I… think the better question would be _what_ am I?" He countered, chilling Elsa more than her ice curse could. "I'm pretty sure you've had suspicions, but I want you to tell me what you think I am."

Elsa paused. _What sort of twisted game is he playing? _"I thought that you were a ghost… at first. I still don't know… but… I think you're just a hallucination, conjured up by my mind for some reason."

The man nodded, as if agreeing with her. "Good deduction. I am, however, what you want me to be."

"Wait. What?" _That's… confusing._

"For example: if you believe I'm a hallucination, then I will be. If you want me to be a ghost or a phantom, then I'll be one. If you want me to be real… that'll take a little longer, but I could be. Honestly, _I_ don't know what I truly am right now, because you don't."

Elsa was terrified, confused, and curious all at the same time because of his statement. "Y-you're saying that… you are a part of my mind? That I am going crazy?"

"Well, first: right now I am, and second: it depends on your definition of crazy," he said calmly, irritating Elsa even further.

"What do you mean, right now you are? How does somebody become not real or real on a whim?!" Elsa almost shouted.

"Because you wanted it to be that way. What I am is up to you, your wishes."

Elsa almost growled in frustration. _Is he intentionally trying to be infuriatingly confusing?_ Then she stopped. _Why am I being so open with him right now? I don't even know who, or what he is… And why haven't my powers gone out of control yet? I've been yelling and angry, but nothing's happened… yet. I need to calm down… Control. Conceal it. Don't feel it._ Elsa held her hands close to her, clenched, but she noticed the… _His_ frown at the action. "What?" She challenged, albeit with less force than she wanted to.

He shook his head dismissively. "Irrelevant right now." He closed his eyes and opened them again after a beat. "I don't know everything about how this works, but I guess you can say that I'm a part of you. What you want that part to be is up to you. What I do know is that I, as I am, and whatever I will be, want to help you."

"Help me?" Elsa questioned, somewhat hysterically. "With what? What can a figment of my imagination do to help me besides reassure me that I am going insane?"

"I already have helped you many times. Think back." Elsa, humoring him, tried to recall one such instance. _When has he helped me? He appeared right around the time I had my first nightmare…_ She suddenly remembered the soft singing, soothing and calming her after each nightmare.

"That was you? Singing?" She questioned tentatively.

He nodded. "Indeed Elsa," she shivered when he said her name. "After every one I stayed with you until you awoke."

"So were you the cause of those nightmares?" She accused.

Something dark passed over his face and he frowned. "_No_, I haven't been giving you those nightmares… that was… something else."

"Something else?" Elsa questioned. _If something could cause those nightmares… I don't want to find out. _A hall shrouded in darkness with a full moon glowing overhead crossed briefly through her mind before it vanished.

"Something you don't need to worry about as long as I'm here. I know this sounds like one of the strangest things you've heard," _It is, but having ice magic is up there in the strangeness scale, _"but there are certain things I can and cannot do, same with how much I can tell you."

"So a part of my own mind is hiding things from me?" Elsa said incredulously.

He gave her a sharp look that made Elsa flinch, "Don't tell me you want also want to forget things don't you? To hide certain things from even yourself, things you've done?"

Elsa's blood froze, if it wasn't already frozen. "Stop it," she whispered. "Just, stop."

The man sighed and nodded. "I apologize, but sometimes things need to be said to be understood."

Elsa glared at him, but didn't feel it as much as she wanted. There was a silence; the only things making noises were her breathing and the clock ticking. At length, Elsa ventured another question. "How come I could hear you this morning but not see you?"

The man smirked, and Elsa suddenly thought back to the first time she saw him. "Well, right now you believe I'm in your head. So I could talk to you like that. This morning I was… tired, drained from the night before," Elsa cringed and shivered at the memory of almost ending her life in a cowardly move, "so I couldn't talk much. It takes a while for my energy to replenish for some reason."

Elsa nodded, then asked, "What about during geopolitics?"

He scowled. "That tutor was irritating me as much as he was irritating you. He just went on and on and on. It was annoying. I just _had_ to say something," he drawled

Despite herself, Elsa giggled, but cut herself off when she yawned. The man shifted. "It's late and you're tired. I'll leave you to get some rest." He stood up, causing Elsa to focus on his movements. There was an awkward pause before he nodded to himself and then said, "Goodnight Elsa."

"G-goodnight… uhh," _Wait, does he have a name? _Elsa suddenly realized that he didn't have something she could call him, but before she could ask he abruptly vanished like mist in the wind. _And he didn't even say if we were going to talk again._

Shrugging to herself, she followed the man's advice and made ready for bed, changing and freshening up before stopping in front of her mirror. "Well… That happened."

"And not much was revealed. He said a lot, but it felt like he was hiding many things." Elsa replied.

"But… he seemed… okay. He did say that he'd keep the nightmares away."

"How do you know if he actually wasn't the one causing the nightmares to begin with, and then taking the credit for chasing them away?" She questioned.

"Well, for one, he calmed me down. Two, he's a part of me- no, he's a hallucination. I'm seeing things."

"Well of course you are. But you can't exactly tell anyone about it, can you? Not without revealing that you have two sided conversations with myself in my mirror." Elsa sighed and turned away.

_She-_I'm _right. That would just give father more reasons to keep me away from everyone or I'll infect them with insanity. Which is worse, hitting them with magic or insanity? And I get the double dose. _Elsa walked over to her bed and covered herself with the blankets, sighing, then closing her eyes.

As she drifted off, she thought she heard _him_ signing again, but didn't make an effort to look around her room. _He's not real. It's all in my head._

_'But that doesn't mean it's not real…' _came his voice from a distance, then he resumed signing a soft tune.

Elsa went out like a lamp blown out.

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**Well, it is what it is. Don't know if it was worth the wait for those of you who did, but hey, it's something! So who or what exactly is this man? Is he truly in Elsa's head or is there something more going on? Let me know what you think! (Just a side note, I do reply to replyable reviews, so if you do want one, make sure your PM settings are right. It annoys me when someone asks a big question and they don't even let me respond to it...) **

**Also, I may have another new Frozen story in the future! I got the idea from someone else's work (who got their idea from another's) and wanted to make it my own with my own spin. Might be up in a couple of months. **

**Anyway, remember to Read, Review, Favorite, and Follow! (R.R.F.F.)**

**Until next time (which hopefully isn't another half a year)**

**-OrangeGalen**


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